In recent decades, hydrogen has emerged as a viable alternative to ecologically damaging fossil fuel use for energy production and heavy industry. This article will highlight Electric Hydrogen’s contributions to the field of green hydrogen-based technological solutions.
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Producing Green Hydrogen
Fossil fuels are a reliable energy source, powering energy generation and heavy industry and driving progress in the modern era. However, their use comes with significant drawbacks, namely their contribution as a leading cause of anthropogenic climate change. There is an urgent need for clean, green alternatives.
Hydrogen is an energy carrier that can store and deliver immense amounts of energy, meeting the demands of multiple industries. The only by-products of hydrogen use are electricity, water, and heat.
Most industrial hydrogen is produced from natural gas, requiring extraction and exploitation of fossil fuels. This opposes the environmental benefits of hydrogen as a clean energy solution. Next-generation electrolyzer technologies are currently being developed to produce green, low-cost hydrogen.
Several companies are currently participating in developing technologies for using green hydrogen in the heavy industry sector.
Electric Hydrogen: Decarbonizing Heavy Industry
US-based clean energy start-up Electric Hydrogen is investing in green, low-cost hydrogen production that overcomes the critical issue with the use of hydrogen in heavy industry, namely its reliance on fossil fuels during synthesis and manufacture.
The company is developing next-generation electrolyzer technologies to produce environmentally friendly, sustainable hydrogen.
Over 30% of global greenhouse gas emissions are produced by heavy industry, which presents significant challenges and opportunities for decarbonization and achieving net zero.
Available technologies cannot currently mitigate these emissions. Consequently, a complete system-wide energy transition across every industry is urgently needed if the worst predicted effects of climate change are to be avoided. A total of 95% of all hydrogen currently used is produced from fossil fuels.
Electric Hydrogen’s approach re-imagines current industrial systems at all levels, designing processes and technologies to be flexible, scalable, and easy to use.
Electric Hydrogen’s Technological Solutions and Tools
Electric Hydrogen provides heavy industry clients with modular green hydrogen electrolyzer systems that reduce overall project costs and mitigate issues with schedule overruns.
The company’s innovative integrated electrolysis plant provides efficient performance throughout the complete system design from the cell level up.
Aside from providing companies in key heavy industry sectors with equipment for producing green hydrogen, Electric Hydrogen helps clients realize project economics, de-risk construction, and provide accurate production predictions, making the company a supplier and partner for clients.
Electric Hydrogen also provides toolkits to help companies and industry stakeholders explore the benefits of sustainable, net-zero hydrogen solutions for their business and operations.
The company delivers complimentary, open public access, Levelized Cost of Hydrogen (LCOH), and advanced LCOH tools for clients.
Toolkits cover vital parameters like LCOE, capacity factors, and CapEx.
Advanced LCOH tools from EH2 incorporate comprehensive operational and plant parameters, such as hybrid renewable energy generation technologies, available support mechanisms, such as tax credits and grants, and water supply costs.
Funding the Next Generation of Green Hydrogen Electrolysis Technologies
Green, sustainable hydrogen produced by renewable energy technologies has the potential to meet the total energy needs of every industry in the modern era. However, significant investment is urgently needed to accelerate the complete system-wide shift in energy use needed to power this future.
Electric Hydrogen has received $198 million of funding to help realize the company’s aims in producing low-cost fossil fuel-free hydrogen to meet industrial and commercial demands. The funding comprises venture debt from investors and Series B equity.
Key investors include Cosan, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Amazon’s Climate Pledge Fund, and Rio Tinto. Trinity Capital, Silicon Valley Bank, and S2G Ventures have also provided funding.
Through the support of funding from multiple investors, Electric Hydrogen will be able to scale its innovative next-generation electrolyzer technologies. The company will deploy demonstration projects that help exhibit the benefits of green hydrogen to industry partners and clients.
What is Next for Electric Hydrogen?
Electric Hydrogen co-founder Raffi Garabedian has stated that the company aims to work with industry-leading clients such as Amazon in the future.
The $198 million of funding provided by multiple investors recently secured by Electric Hydrogen will realize the manufacture of cheap, green hydrogen for industry.
A representative of Amazon in a recent CNBC interview explained that the company seeks to address challenges, including providing net-zero shipping, steelmaking, and aviation, which are hard to decarbonize fully.
Amazon’s strategic partnership with Electric Hydrogen will help accelerate the uptake of net-zero hydrogen technologies.
Electric Hydrogen has stated that using the company’s large-scale hydrogen electrolyzer systems can radically reduce the cost of green hydrogen, making it cost-competitive with fossil fuels, a critical financial roadblock to the green hydrogen industry.
Towards a Zero-Carbon Economy With Low-Cost, Green Hydrogen
While the modern, heavy industry is a cornerstone of social, economic, and technological progress, the ecological price of progress has become strikingly obvious in recent years as global temperatures rise, causing more extreme weather events, rising sea levels, and accelerating biodiversity and ecosystem loss.
Climate change also affects vulnerable populations in many nations. According to the UN, 1.2 billion people could be climate refugees by 2050, contributing to significant social and economic upheaval as the world struggles to adapt to its new normal.
Green hydrogen helps solve the problems faced by fossil fuel exploitation, as it can meet heavy industry and transportation demands.
Reversing the impact of industrial activity is difficult. However, strategic partnerships between green, low-cost hydrogen technology companies such as Electric Hydrogen and key industry players will help to make a sustainable, post-carbon economy and society a reality. By doing so, the worst future effects of climate change could be mitigated.
References and Further Reading
Electric Hydrogen (homepage) Available at: https://eh2.com/
Office of Energy Efficiency & Renewable Energy (2017) Hydrogen: A Clean, Flexible Energy Carrier [online] energy.gov. Available at: https://www.energy.gov/eere/articles/hydrogen-clean-flexible-energy-carrier
Baker, D.R (2022) Hydrogen Startup Raises $198 Million for Plants to Produce Green Fuel [online] bloomberg.com. Available at: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-06-22/hydrogen-startup-raises-198-million-for-plants-to-produce-green-fuel
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