May 30, 2022 • Paul Rodden • Season: 2022 • Episode: 118
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Welcome to The Hydrogen Podcast!
In episode 118, Air Liquide has a massive announcement in Nevada, a French car company could revolutionize electric vehicles, and four massive industrial hubs throughout the world are looking to go net zero. All of this on today’s hydrogen podcast.
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Transcript:
Air Liquide has a massive announcement in Nevada, a French car company could revolutionize electric vehicles, and four massive industrial hubs throughout the world are looking to go net zero. 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 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 a press release on May 24, Air Liquide officially opened its largest liquid hydrogen production and logistics infrastructure facility in North Las Vegas, Nevada. The facility aims to supply the growing needs for hydrogen mobility, but will also provide hydrogen to a wide array of industries while the mobility market continues to mature. The facility and the associated logistics infrastructure marks a $250 million investment by Air Liquide in the US in the hydrogen market and will position Nevada as a leader in hydrogen energy production. Air Liquide’s investment created jobs for 700 contractors and 25 full time jobs with a plant at full capacity. With this facility Air Liquide also developed the infrastructure necessary to attract other companies to move into the area, creating additional jobs and new revenue for the city of North Las Vegas and the state of Nevada.
The North Las Vegas facility will produce 30 tons of liquid hydrogen per day, which will be utilized by various customers, notably by those in the growing clean mobility market on the West Coast, especially California. The facility will be powered by fully renewable electricity. The facility can also use renewable natural gas to meet California low carbon fuel standards when supplying the California mobility market. In this context, the facility can provide enough renewable hydrogen for over 40,000 fuel cell vehicles in California. This will significantly improve the hydrogen supply for mobility, a critical enabler for market growth. With the clean mobility market continuing to mature the plan configuration will also allow for the sale of hydrogen to a wide array of sectors with a range of renewable and low carbon options for customers. Air Liquide executives and employees are joined by local state and federal leaders for the event including Nevada Governor Steve Sisolak, Congressman Steven Horsford (NV-4), North Las Vegas Mayor John J. Lee, with a special recorded welcome message from U.S. Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm and U.S. Senator Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV), who visited the facility earlier in the month. An alignment with Air Liquide sustainability objectives.
The North Las Vegas liquid hydrogen production facility aims to accelerate hydrogen development and contribute to the group’s goal of at least tripling hydrogen sales in order to reach 6 billion euros, or nearly six and a half billion US dollars. By 2035. Michael Graff, Chairman and CEO of American Air Liquide holdings and executive vice president of American Air Liquide group said Air Liquide has supported the clean mobility market on the West Coast since its infancy and the North Las Vegas facility is a milestone in our decades long leadership of the US hydrogen market. The facility is an illustration of our commitment and ability to usher sustainable markets into the future, while creating jobs and fostering economic growth in the present. By providing a reliable supply of hydrogen to California’s mobility market and the region’s industrial customers, we’re making a significant investment in the transition toward a more sustainable future, one with hydrogen at its core. Okay, so really what this announcement is about is that Air Liquide is moving into the next phase on this production facility in Nevada. Now, it had been announced before, but with a bit of a vague timeframe on when it will become operational.
Now, the economics of this project are actually pretty good. The reason being that their target market is California mobility, which right now has some of the highest per kilogram price points in the world. And so right now, the biggest question is will they recoup their costs and actually get their sales up to six and a half billion dollars a year. 2035 Is not that far away but knowing what I do about Air Liquide, I think they’ll be able to make that target. Next, a bit of a follow up to a previous story from a few months ago, and an announcement by a French car company that could literally revolutionize electric vehicles. Previously, we had talked about the car company, Renault out of France, announcing a possible hydrogen fuel cell vehicle. Well on May 19. They are now announced it. And in that press release on May 19. They say through its purpose, its sustainability strategy, and the launch of the Renault Lucian strategic plan. Renault group and its brands have embarked on a major transformation moving from a race for volume to the creation of economic, environmental and social value, with the aim of becoming carbon neutral in Europe by 2040 and worldwide by 2050. To achieve these goals, Renault unveiled the world premiere of its new scenic vision concept car at the change now summit in Paris.
It embodies Renault’s commitment to sustainable development, and reflects the brand’s plan to decarbonize its entire lifecycle. Now there’s a lot of tech that’s been incorporated into this concept car that wouldn’t necessarily apply to this podcast. So right now I’m just going to focus on the vehicles powertrain. It’s a hybrid system, but not in the traditional sense of it being a gasoline and battery hybrid. This time, it’s a hybrid electric and hydrogen power train. And with this technology, they feel like they can get the best from both electricity and hydrogen. And in this press release, they list three key components for this powertrain that make it so unique. The first is their h2 tech technology, which is a hybrid vehicle both electric and hydrogen equipped with a 16 kilowatt fuel cell. The h2 tech technology is based on the range extender technology, which makes it possible to carry a battery that is twice as light for the same range, thus contributing to decarbonisation beyond the electrification of the vehicle. Although this solution has a vision for a passenger car Renault group through the Hyvia or a joint venture with Plug Power already offers this technology on LCVs. Their second bullet point is their 2030 and beyond vision, once the network of hydrogen stations is large enough, drivers will be able to drive up to 800 kilometers, or, for instance, the 750 kilometers from Paris to Marseille without stopping to charge the battery, the driver will only have to stop for five minutes or less to fill up the hydrogen tank, or to help those of you in United States that’s 500 miles on a tank.
And the third bullet point about this technology is that following on from the partnership that they’ve already entered into with plug power, this vehicle has a carbon footprint that is 75% smaller than that of an electric vehicle, such as the Megane E tech electric, its battery is up to 60% less carbon intensive than an equivalent battery, thanks to the use of short loops and low carbon sourcing of minerals, and the use of low carbon energy to assemble and produce the battery. Okay, so car enthusiasts can get really excited about this press release, and that it’s a new car, new technology coming to the market in the next few years. But what’s really important to the hydrogen market is how revolutionary the idea of developing a battery electric and hydrogen hybrid platform. But it makes sense with this system, you can leverage what makes battery EVs great, which is the responsiveness of battery power, but now you can leverage a zero carbon emission Electricity Generating platform to charge those batteries. Now, I still think there’s a lot of r&d to do in this platform. But Renault certainly has the capacity to put the necessary funds into the r&d setup. And lastly, on a press release on May 24, out of Davos, Switzerland, for leading industrial clusters in the Netherlands, Belgium and the US today announced that they’re working together with the World Economic Forum to reduce their carbon emissions faster through the transitioning industrial clusters toward Net Zero initiative.
The World Economic Forum is collaborating with Accenture and Electric Power Research Institute EPRI on the initiative, launched on COP 26 on November of 2021. The initiative aims to accelerate the decarbonisation of hard to abate industrial sectors, while maximizing job creation and economic competitiveness. The approach focuses on building cross industry and cross cluster partnerships to better implement low carbon technologies, as in the case of the regionally developed Basque hydrogen corridor and on accessing public funding frameworks and blending finance options for clusters, decarbonisation projects. Under this initiative, the World Economic Forum, working closely with Accenture and EPRI, as knowledge partners connects private and public stakeholders to assess how to meet individual and collective decarbonisation goals, fosters new enabling policies and provides guidance and support for local community engagement, industrial clusters or geographic regions where industrial companies are concentrated, making them an attractive target for impactful emissions reduction strategies. Since industrial assets are located in close proximity to each other Sharing of infrastructure such as co2 and hydrogen pipelines, or renewable energy assets, financial and operational risks, and natural and human resources becomes possible. This also provides opportunities to deploy and scale new green technologies, such as hydrogen and the capture, utilization and storage of carbon for industrial applications, enabling a systematic approach to emissions reductions. The clusters joining the initiative are the Brightlands Circular Space, together with Brightlands Chemelot Campus, Chemelot and the Chemelot Circular Hub in Geleen, Netherlands, you will help accelerate the energy transition and circular economy.
The next one is H2Houston Hub, formed through the Center for Houston’s future and encompassing more than 100 organizations and companies. It will leverage the Houston area’s position as the US is largest hydrogen producer and consumer and use innovation and scale to reduce the cost of clean hydrogen and emissions. Next is the Ohio clean hydrogen hub alliance with approximately 100 corporate, governmental and community organization members. It will lead the region’s campaign to establish a clean hydrogen hub in the state of Ohio and the Ohio River Valley. And lastly, the Port of Antwerp-Bruges, Europe’s second largest port, it will drive the circular economy and energy transition. These four large industrial emissions centers involving oil and gas extraction and processing, shipping, heavy duty transportation, chemicals and other sectors currently account for co2 emissions of 296 million metric tons per year, greater than the annual emissions of Poland, they employ more than 470,000 people and represent an annual gross domestic product contribution of $135 billion.
Okay, so just a quick snippet on four industries that are joining in to the transitioning industrial clusters toward that zero initiative. And these are for absolutely massive industrial clusters. And I’m looking forward to seeing what measures exactly they’re looking to take in order to reduce their carbon footprint. But regardless of the pathways that they choose, they’re going to have to follow the two E’s efficiency, and economics.
Alright, that’s it for me, everyone. If you have a second, I would really appreciate it. If you can leave a good review on whatever platform it is that you listen to Apple podcasts, Spotify, Google, whatever it is, that would be a tremendous help to the show. And as always, if you have any feedback, you’re always 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.
