February 23, 2023 • Paul Rodden • Season: 2023 • Episode: 191
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In episode 191, Toyota’s fuel cells go to France and plug power announces a new project in Spain. All of this on today’s hydrogen podcast.
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Transcript:
Toyota’s fuel cells go to France and plug power announces a new project in Spain. All of this 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’s capital being deployed for hydrogen projects globally? 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 a cap. 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 a press release on February 22, Toyota to supply its fuel cell modules to European truck company Hyliko. French startup Hyliko plans to integrate Toyotas second generation hydrogen fuel cell modules into heavy duty trucks for their zero emission fleet offering. The latest cooperation into the truck sector further expands Toyota’s portfolio of partnerships, where it provides us fuel cell technology for hydrogen solutions across diverse sectors including trains, buses, generators, and various marine applications. Toyota’s fuel cell business is looking to further expand into the wider commercial vehicle sector as a means to accelerate the growth of zero emissions hydrogen mobility, specifically it sees great promise in trucks, which are responsible for 77% of all freight transported on European roads, while the lower mass of hydrogen systems allows for heavier payload. The fast refueling of hydrogen is also essential for heavy commercial transport with high utilization, commercial truck usage patterns and their demand for larger volumes of hydrogen, position them as key contributors and developing sustainable infrastructures.
Globally, Toyota is already working with multiple truck partners to integrate fuel cell technology and heavy duty transport. The Zanza short to store project in the US which started back in 2019 Recently proved that fuel cell electric trucks can match Diesel Performance and provide zero emissions alternative ready for commercial deployment. The partnership with Hyliko also marks another step towards tmes vision for hydrogen ecosystems in Europe, stimulating both supply and demand to expand into viable business models. As hydrogen energy is a key pillar of Europe’s energy strategy. tme is prioritizing the expansion of different types of fuel cell applications within the hydrogen ecosystem to support their growth. TME’s partnership strategy aims to develop synergies between the different business sectors and supports communities that want to further expand into fully fledged hydrogen corridors. And so Hyliko will offer two models of fuel cell trucks, a 44 T tractor and a 26 T straight truck. Each of these vehicles will be equipped with two Toyota fuel cell modules as part of its Truck Leasing, offering Hyliko plans to introduce its own green hydrogen infrastructure, including fuel production and storage and distribution. Okay, so a couple of very interesting key points to take away from this press release.
The first is that now Toyota is working with two class eight truck manufacturers. The first being Kenworth and their Zanza shorter store project. And now just a little bit of background about why that’s important. In the United States. There are roughly seven class eight trucks on the road. And those seven trucks are made by four different manufacturers. Daimler, Volvo, Navistar and Paccar. Now Kenworth is made by Paccar who also makes Peterbilt. And we know that Volvo and Daimler are both working on fuel cell applications for their class eight trucks. And Navistar which makes the International Truck partnered with General Motors in 2021, to develop their fuel cell applications. And so now with the US effectively locked up for fuel cell applications for their class eight trucks, Toyota is now looking to Europe with this deal.
And what I also find interesting about this announcement is that Hyliko is planning to introduce its own green hydrogen infrastructure. And again, that’s going to include fuel production, storage and distribution, sounding very similar to what Nikola announced a few weeks ago with their Hyla project. And I’m wondering if what we’re seeing now is a lot of these smaller trucking companies not waiting for hydrogen infrastructure to be built out but developing it on their own. Next in a press release on February 21, Plug and ACCIONA Energía Present in Spain Their ‘Valle H2V Navarra’ Project to the Government of Navarra. Now the project which is currently in the development stage foresees a total investment of 87 million euros as well as the creation of over 500 jobs.
The aim is to use 90% of the production of green hydrogen for consumption by the main industrial sectors of the region. That production they’re estimating to be 3880 tonnes per year. And so with all that being said plug power and ACCIONA Energía have presented to the government of Navarra, their Valley HTV Navarra. joint project to build an industrial scale green hydrogen production plant in roca foretastes and gay some. The project currently in the development stage involves the construction of a 25 megawatt electrolyzer on the land plots adjacent to the Sangha biomass plant. The electrolyzer will be powered by a hybrid renewable energy produced at a photovoltaic plant, which will provide at 25 megawatts and a wind farm which will provide at 24 megawatts, both newly built facilities that are currently under development.
The plans of Plug and ACCIONA Energía entail a total associated investment of 87 million euros and the creation of over 500 direct, indirect and induced jobs during the construction of the plant. Once built, the plant will reach a total production of 3880 tons of green hydrogen per year. The aim is to use 90% of the green hydrogen production for consumption by the main energy intensive industries in the area such as paper, glass, steel, food, and automotive contributing to their decarbonisation, and the reduction of their co2 emissions, including plugs, customers and material handling stationary power and on road mobility applications. The remaining 10% will be used for the transport sector through the installation of a hydrogen station at the same location. The project envisages the possibility to expand the hydrogen plant in the future, depending on the evolution of demand to double the initially planned power of 50 megawatts of electrolysis.
The president of Navarra María Chivite announced during that meeting that the regional government is declaring the valuation of Navarra project and investment of interest for the region at its session. This will speed up its processing and development. She also highlighted the strategic nature of this project not only because of the investment and the jobs created, but also because it will, quote provide clean energy to the industrial ecosystem of the region, where there are companies that are large consumers of energy, and because it will place Sangüesa on the innovation map, the project brings together all the key elements of the green hydrogen value chain, renewable energy generation, production, infrastructure, storage and distribution of green hydrogen. At this time, it will be one of the largest hydrogen plants commissioned in Europe. And a quote from Rafael Mateo, Chairman of ACCIONAPLUG and CEO of ACCIONA Energía Valley H2 V.
Navarra was created with the objective of being the first operational green hydrogen generation plant at industrial scale in Navarra, and to give a qualitative and quantitative boost to the decarbonisation of the industry in the region. In addition, this project is of particular interest, thanks to its scalability and replicability, as it will provide an operational example of the contribution of green hydrogen in the energy transition, the valley H2V, and of our project plans to start generating green hydrogen by the end of next year, thus enabling the government of Navarra to comply with the Nevada green hydrogen agenda, a roadmap for the development of green hydrogen ecosystem, which foresees the installation of between 10 megawatts, and 30 megawatts of production by 2024 and 150 megawatts by 2030 in the region. Okay, so some big news from Plug is their move forward into the European Space, this time in Spain.
Now, I recently talked about pluged, pulling out of their deal with FFI and needing to focus in on easier to develop targets. This, I think, is one of those targets, Spain is going very hard and developing their hydrogen ecosystem. And I also think that ACCIONA Energía presents a much better opportunity as a partnership with plug with this deal being a 5050 joint venture between the two companies. Now they’re looking at getting this project off the ground by the end of 2024. Meaning a lot of work is going to have to be done between now and that time. And I’m not sure that roughly 20 months is enough time to get a project of this magnitude off the ground. And so if this project does move forward and get built, I wouldn’t expect it to be producing hydrogen until the second half of 2025.
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, there’ll be a tremendous help to the show. And as always, if you have any feedback, you’re welcome to email me directly at info@thehydrogenpodcast.com. And as always, take care. Stay safe. I’ll talk to you later.
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.
