May 25, 2023 • Paul Rodden • Season: 2023 • Episode: 217
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Welcome to The Hydrogen Podcast!
In episode 217, NEOM announces a big financial closure on their hydrogen project. Sumitomo Corporation looks at hydrogen in the UK. And Raven SR gets a big win in California.
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Paul Rodden
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Transcript:
NEOM announces a big financial closure on their hydrogen project. Sumitomo Corporation looks at hydrogen in the UK. And Raven SR gets a big win in California. I’ll go over 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? 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 in this podcast will give you the answers. My name is Paul Rodden, and welcome to the hydrogen podcast.
In a press release on May 22, NEOM green hydrogen company completes financial close at a total investment value of 8.4 billion US dollars in the world’s largest carbon free green hydrogen plant, NEOM green hydrogen company or NGHC announced that following signing financial documents with 23 local, regional and international banks and investment firms. It has now achieved financial close on the world’s largest green hydrogen production facility at a total investment value of 8.4 billion US dollars. The plant is currently being built at Oxagon, in Saudi Arabia’s region of NEOM. NGHC, has also concluded the engineering procurement and construction agreement with Air Products as the nominated contractor and system integrator for the entire facility. Additionally, NGHC, also announced that the non recourse financing structured for the project has been certified by s&p global as a second party opinion provider as adhering to green loan principles and is one of the largest project financings put in place under the green loan framework.
Air Products has already awarded major contracts to various technology and construction partners. neom green hydrogen company also secured an exclusive 30 year offtake agreement with Air Products for all the green ammonia produced at the facility which will unlock the economic potential of renewable energy across the entire value chain. An equal joint venture between ACWA Power Air Products and neom NGHGs megaplan will integrate up to four gigawatts of solar and wind energy to produce up to 600 tons per day of carbon free hydrogen by the end of 2026 in the form of green ammonia as a cost effective solution for the transportation and industrial sectors globally. Okay, so this is news that all of us in the hydrogen economy have been expecting for the last couple of years, we’ve known that Saudi Arabia really has been putting a lot of emphasis on this project and has wanted it to move forward. And so now with fid completed, we now focus on EPC. Now this press release has said that the NG HC has concluded the EPC with Air products, but Air Products is now going to have to send out contracts and is currently in process in doing so for subcontractors to start coming in and bidding on the actual development of the facility. I
t was project is slated for completion and to start production of hydrogen by the end of 2026. So between now and then we’re going to be seeing a lot of activity ramping up to get this project completed and operational in roughly three and a half years. Next in a press release on May 24th Sumitomo Corp joint development agreement for low carbon hydrogen production in the vicinity of the Bacton gas terminal in the UK, Sumitomo Corporation and its wholly owned subsidiary summit energy evolution limited have been involved in a feasibility study for the establishment of a hydrogen value chain centered around the Bacton gas terminal in the UK, which will provide a significant contribution towards UK targets for the establishment of a sustainable hydrogen economy and decarbonisation at local and regional scales. Now the summit energy evolution limited or SEEL. has recently signed a joint development agreement with progressive energy limited or ppl who have a proven track record in low carbon hydrogen production projects in the UK.
To progress a CCS enable hydrogen production project that Bacton with the aim to reach final investment decision in the late 2020s, with the start of a CCS enabled hydrogen production in 2030. The Bacton gas terminal located in the southeast of the UK is a large scale natural gas gathering point that handles about 1/3 of the UK is natural gas production. The UK government is promoting clean energy conversion projects throughout the country and recently facilitated an industry led special interest group to look at a project around the bacton area to build a value chain For consistent hydrogen production, storage and transportation, this is the carbon neutrality project in the bacton area of the UK.
In this project under the leadership of the UK oil and gas regulator of the North Sea transition authority or the NSTA, five special interest groups were established to examine hydrogen supply and demand scenarios and verification of major infrastructure to confirm the potential of the project which is planned to produce carbon capture and storage enable hydrogen made by natural gas and green hydrogen by using offshore wind power. Sumitomo Corporation and SEEL. had been leading the research with regards to hydrogen production as the lead company in the hydrogen supply siG. Based on the results of the investigations conducted by each siG, it has been determined that there is likely to be sufficient demand for hydrogen in the surrounding areas and nationally to support the development, there is a possibility that the existing gas pipelines can be used for transportation, and they are expecting to be readily available CCS sites located off shore and deplete a gas fields adjacent to the Bacton terminals.
As a result, the project is positioned to be one of the promising projects likely to qualify for UK Government support under its hydrogen economy support mechanism proposals and Net Zero hydrogen fund. Okay, so very, very interesting news coming out of the UK. Okay, well, why is it so interesting? Well, it’s the fact that it’s rare to see a hydrocarbon derived hydrogen project coming out of Europe. What’s also interesting about this project is its geographic location. Now, it wouldn’t necessarily be surprising to hear about a hydrocarbon derived hydrogen or an SMR project coming out of the Teesside area, which is more in the northern part of England or southern part of Scotland. This project is in Bacton, which is just north of Norwich, or in the Far Eastern stretches of England, this project also gets the hydrogen production much closer to Europe, and the intake around Netherlands. So it can put this hydrogen development much closer to the European hydrogen backbone. And also in that area, there is a lot of old oil and gas fields, easily available for the CCUS to take place. Now, it’s going to be very interesting to see how England responds to this development. Will they give it approval or will they shut it down because it’s determined not to be green enough all the time is going to tell for that.
But I’m very interested to see how this project does play out. And next on another press release on May 24. Raven SR. bio energy project receives environmental approval from the city of Richmond, California. Raven, Sr. Renewables fuels Company announced on May 24, the unanimous approval of its California Environmental Quality Act permit by the city of Richmond on May 16. For Raven SRS first organic waste a hydrogen bio energy project, which will be located in Richmond, California. This permit marks a significant step in approving the world’s first steam co2 RE-forming hydrogen production facility using diverted waste as a feedstock. And a quote from Matt Murdock, CEO of Raven Sr. We are honored that the city of Richmond unanimously approved our waste to hydrogen facility setting the stage for the community to be a leader in the global hydrogen transition. by diverting organic waste from a public services closed, West Contra Costa sanitary landfill or WCCLS this facility will produce clean hydrogen and reduce both greenhouse gases and cumulative cancer and non cancer risks in the community.
Moreover, the project will economically benefit the Richmond community by supplying local gas stations with clean zero carbon hydrogen fuel for fuel cell vehicles and creating new green jobs including 100 to 150 construction positions. The city of Richmond is excited to begin this journey into the future of green technology, a green economy, a green workforce and a greener world this according to the city of Richmond mayor, Eduardo Martinez. He continues by saying the Raven SR project will contribute to the reduction of waste and greenhouse emissions and will employ local residents. The message that we are sending today is Richmond is serious about addressing climate change and serious about providing solutions and alternatives to dirty jobs. The project is expected to divert up to 99 Wet tons of green and Food waste per day from a public services WCC S L into Raven SR is non combustion steam co2 reforming process producing up to 2400 metric tons of renewable hydrogen per year. diversion or the organic waste will help fulfill California’s SB 1383 mandates, and will potentially avoid up to 70 to 100 metric tons per year of co2 emissions from the landfill.
The project is expected to produce at least 60% of its own electricity by using methane from the landfill and a new state of the art electric generator, further reducing both the current air emissions and the need for grid power for its non combustion process. And a quote from Julia Levin, Executive Director of the Bioenergy Association of California, Raven Sr, is poised to make a significant impact in reducing short lived climate pollutants, the most damaging climate pollutants and the most urgent climate solutions. Cutting these climate super pollutants benefits the climate right away and buys us time until hydrocarbons are reduced, which take decades to begin to benefit the climate began to take effect. Reducing methane and black carbon also provide immediate benefits to public health since these are powerful air pollutants as well. The Raven SR Richmond project is in the final stages of obtaining a permit from the Bay Area Air Quality Management Department, which previously approved its pilot facility.
Upon receiving authority to construct the company plans to break ground this summer with full commercial operations, beginning in q1 of 2024 offtake agreements for the hydrogen supplier in place with several companies including project equity investors, Hyzon Motors and Chevron New Energies that plan to market the hydrogen in Bay Area in Northern California fueling stations enabling the energy transition to zero emission vehicles Hyzon a global supplier of fuel cell electric commercial vehicles, plans to provide refueling for hydrogen fuel cell trucks at a hydrogen hub in Richmond. Okay, so a big congratulations to Raven SR is this is one of the biggest advancements in hydrogen permitting and regulatory approvals, especially in one of the hardest states to advance energy development, California. And I am beyond thrilled that they have been able to get this approved and get unanimous environmental approval from the city of Richmond. That is a big win and not one to be discounted. This victory really does set the stage for waste hydrogen projects to move forward throughout the US and globally. So again, from all of us here at the hydrogen podcast, congratulations Raven, Sr. on this huge win.
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. 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 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.
