Paul Rodden • Season: 2024 • Episode: 310
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Welcome to The Hydrogen Podcast!
In episode 310, The EU ordered seven projects was 720 million euros, but will private investment follow. Also, h2 at scale gets kicked off with a massive data center fuel cell. I’ll go over this news and give my thoughts on today’s hydrogen podcast.
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Transcript:
The EU ordered seven projects was 720 million euros, but will private investment follow. Also, h2 at scale gets kicked off with a massive data center fuel cell. I’ll go over this news and give my thoughts on today’s hydrogen podcast.
So the big questions in the energy industry today are, how is hydrogen the primary driving force behind the evolution of energy? Where is capital being deployed for hydrogen projects globally? And where are the best investment opportunities for early adopters who recognize the importance of hydrogen? I will address the critical issues and give you the information you need to deploy capital. Those are the questions that will unlock the potential of hydrogen, and this podcast will give you the answers. My name is Paul Rodden, and welcome to the hydrogen podcast.
In an article on May 1 in European interest.eu Beata Stur writes Let’s inform about EU’s renewable hydrogen funding. Beata writes The European Commission has recently awarded almost €720 million to seven renewable hydrogen projects in Europe through a highly competitive bidding process of the European Hydrogen Bank. The funds for this auction come from the revenues of the EU Emissions Trading System. The winning bidders, selected from a pool of 132 bids, will produce renewable hydrogen in Europe and receive a subsidy to bridge the price difference between their production costs and the current market price for hydrogen, which non-renewable producers drive. And in a quote from the executive vice president for European Green Deal and Institutional Relations and foresight.
The European Hydrogen Bank will provide valuable support to the decarbonisation of European industry. The high number of bids and the investments awarded today are a clear signal of confidence in the nascent renewable hydrogen market. There is a strong project pipeline in Europe and a competitive industry. These are encouraging signs for the future of this important net-zero technology. The Innovation Fund, the EU’s largest funding programme for deploying innovative net-zero technologies, with an estimated budget of €40 billion between 2020 and 2030 from the revenues of auctioning allowances under the EU Emissions Trading System, is a testament to the European Commission’s commitment to promoting renewable energy. The European Hydrogen Bank, announced by President Ursula von der Leyen in her State of the European Union address in 2022, is another initiative by the Commission to promote the EU’s domestic production and imports of renewable hydrogen.
The first auction of the European Hydrogen Bank, a significant step towards a greener future, received 132 bids from 17 European countries, with over 15 times the available €800 million budget requested. Out of 119 eligible and admissible proposals, they were ranked according to their bid price and evaluated by the European Climate, Infrastructure and Environment Executive Agency (CINEA). The bids submitted ranged from €0.37 to €4.5 per kilogram of renewable hydrogen produced. The aim of the European Hydrogen Bank is to unlock private investment in the EU and third countries, address investment challenges, close the funding gap, and connect future renewable hydrogen supply to consumers.
The European Hydrogen Bank is therefore contributing to the scale-up of cleaner fuels which will significantly contribute to the decarbonisation of European industry. The renewable hydrogen they produce will be used in sectors such as steel, chemicals, maritime transport and fertilisers. The 7 selected projects were the winners of an oversubscribed auction which attracted 132 bids in total. Together, the winning bidders plan to produce 1.58 million tonnes of renewable hydrogen over ten years, avoiding more than 10 million tonnes of CO2 emissions. The selected projects are located in 4 European countries. They submitted bids between €0.37 and €0.48 per kilogram of renewable hydrogen produced, and also met the other qualification requirements.
The subsidy the 7 projects will receive ranges from €8 million to €245 million. In a quote from the commissioner for climate action. The results of our first EU-wide auction for renewable hydrogen production are very encouraging. These innovative auctions, funded by the revenues from emissions trading, are a game-changer when it comes to producing renewable hydrogen in Europe. The high level of interest shows the strong potential for this market, and the need for resources beyond the EU budget. I encourage other Member States to follow Germany’s lead, and make use of the “Auctions-as-a-service” to support renewable hydrogen production at national level using our European auction platform. Germany has made €350 million in national funding available for the highest ranked projects in Germany that did not qualify for EU-level support but meet the eligibility criteria through the new ‘Auctions-as-a-service’ mechanism.
This mechanism, a part of the EU-level auction platform, allows all Member States to benefit from the platform and award national funding to additional projects. The winning projects will be selected and communicated by the German authorities. The European Climate, Infrastructure and Environment Executive Agency (CINEA) will prepare individual grant agreements with the seven selected projects, and these agreements are expected to be signed by November 2024 at the latest. The selected projects must begin producing renewable hydrogen within five years of signing the grant agreement and will receive the awarded fixed premium subsidy for up to ten years for certified and verified renewable hydrogen production.
The Commission plans to launch a second European Hydrogen Bank auction by the end of this year, taking into account the lessons learned from this pilot auction and consulting further with stakeholders before launching the next auction. And a quote from the commissioner for energy, The EU is becoming a hub for clean technologies. The results of the first auction of the European Hydrogen Bank prove the high interest from European industry to produce and use hydrogen on our continent. The selected projects will help us to deliver the EU’s 2030 energy and climate targets, while creating new opportunities for green jobs and skills. The second hydrogen bank auction later this year is another exciting opportunity for European industry and I hope to see similar interest then.
Okay, so a massive funding round of 720 million euros to be funneled out to seven green hydrogen projects in four European countries. On the surface. This sounds very similar to the hydrogen hubs here in the States. With some obvious discrepancies. I am curious to see just how much private funding this auction round will generate. Here in the States. We haven’t seen much capital flow into the hubs. But the big difference is here in the States, we’re still waiting around for the Treasury Department to figure out their 45 V tax rules for clean hydrogen development. The EU already has their standards in place. And like them or not, the standards are set that at least gives the framework for capital deployment as a way to measure risk and return. That could be a big reason why we could see private investment in these projects. Bolster that with an actual demand market and we could see the hydrogen economy boom in Europe sooner than anywhere else around the world.
Next in an article in datacenter dynamics.com Dan Swinhoe writes Hydrogen demonstration site launches in Austin, will power Texas Advanced Computing Center Supercomputing center set to receive hydrogen power April 29, 2024 By Dan Swinhoe Have your say A hydrogen demonstration facility has launched in Austin, Texas. It will help provide power to the Texas Advanced Computing Center (TACC) data center via a fuel cell. Part of the US Department of Energy (DOE)’s H2@Scale initiative, the facility is designed as a model for future large-scale hydrogen development, showcasing an ‘integrated hydrogen ecosystem’ for production, distribution, storage, and use. The project – located at the University of Texas (UT) J.J. Pickle Research Campus in Austin – is a collaboration between GTI Energy and its subsidiary Frontier Energy, the UT Center for Electromechanics, and nearly two dozen industry stakeholders.
The site will generate hydrogen using water electrolysis powered by solar and wind energy, as well as steam methane reformation via natural gas from landfills. According to UT, the primary end user will be TACC through a stationary fuel cell power system that will provide energy to the data center. The hydrogen site will also fuel a fleet of Toyota Mirai fuel-cell electric vehicles and fuel-cell drones. And a quote from Michael Lewis, research scientist at the UT Austin Center for electromechanics H2@Scale in Texas builds on nearly two decades of UT leadership in hydrogen research and development.
With this facility, we aim to provide the educated workforce and the engineering data needed for success. Beyond the current project, the hydrogen research facility is well-positioned for growth and impact in the emerging clean hydrogen industry. Founded in 2001, TACC hosts several supercomputers including Frontera, Stampede3, Maverick2, JetStream2, and Lonestar6. The company recently announced plans for a new Nvidia-based cluster known as Vista. Launched in 2020, the DOE’s H2@Scale project aims to develop and demonstrate paths to renewable hydrogen as a clean and cost-effective fuel. Industry partners include Air Liquide, CenterPoint Energy, Chart Industries, Chevron, ConocoPhillips, Hitachi Energy, Low-Carbon Resources Initiative, McDermott, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries America, OneH2, ONE Gas, ONEOK, Shell, SoCalGas, Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, Toyota, and WM.
In a recent report, UT noted Texas is well placed for hydrogen-based energy, boasting “significant existing hydrogen infrastructure,” including more than 900 miles of hydrogen pipelines. Okay, so a great project getting kicked off of the h2@scale initiative here in Texas. Now, if you’re listening to this podcast and you haven’t seen our interview with Mike Lewis, I highly suggest checking that out. He really has a wealth of knowledge and truly excited to see h2@scale take off, I love the hydrogen application, using clean hydrogen from various sources to decarbonize an absolutely massive data center. It’s an application I’ve talked about several times on the show.
And honestly, it’s low hanging fruit for the hydrogen industry to target as a demand center. So congratulations to Mike and the rest of the h2@scale group. I can’t wait to see what you all have in store over the horizon.
All right, that’s it for me, everyone. If you have a second, I would really appreciate it. If you could leave a good review on whatever platform it is that you listen to Apple podcasts, Spotify, Google, YouTube, whatever it is, that would be a tremendous help to the show. And as always, if you ever have any feedback, you’re welcome to email me directly at info@thehydrogenpodcast.com. So until next time, keep your eyes up and honor one another.
Hey, this is Paul. I hope you liked this podcast. If you did and want to hear more. I’d appreciate it if you would either subscribe to this channel on YouTube, or connect with your favorite platform through my website at www.thehydrogenpodcast.com. Thanks for listening. I very much appreciate it. Have a great day.
