EARLY MOVERS HARNESS HYDROGEN PROMISE

Nascent Industry Could be Next Offshore Wind

Dubbed the ‘Decade of Hydrogen’, excitement is building around the infrastructure needed for a planned proliferation of hydrogen facilities around the world through to 2030. The current hydrogen project pipeline exceeds 360 gigawatts, 1,200 times the electrolyzer capacity in 2020. The numbers alone speak volumes but to amplify the vast potential, Dr Madana Leela Nallappan, regional analyst (APAC) and hydrogen specialist at the Energy Industries Council, makes the promise clear. “I like to think of hydrogen as the next offshore wind,” she said, speaking to Breakbulk. While the offshore wind sector has moved from nascent to blooming, smart project minds are already laying the groundwork for the hydrogen boom.

“At the moment, we have US$400 billion worth of projects and more than 400 projects in the hydrogen pipeline,” Nallappan said. Most of those are expected to come online beyond 2025; before then just 30GW of projects are expected. “Most projects are still in the feasibility stage. Very few have entered pre-FEED or FEED stages, and even fewer the EPC stage.”

This nascency is an opportunity for project cargo manufacturers, movers and handlers, according to Nallappan. “Yes, the hydrogen market is still nascent, but what I tell people is that it takes a long lead time to come up with new offerings, and to modify products. So that’s why you have got to start identifying the opportunities now and to determine where in the hydrogen value chain your products or offerings fit.

“Now is the time to start doing the groundwork – that’s what I usually tell supply chain companies.”

Wide Geographical Spread

For where to focus that groundwork, Nallappan highlighted the U.S. as being a step ahead of other countries. The U.S. already has hydrogen infrastructure and is thought to have the most hydrogen pipelines laid. Added to which, the U.S. Inflation Reduction Act signed into law on Aug. 16, 2022, directs new federal spending toward reducing carbon emissions and aims to catalyze investments in domestic manufacturing capacity, encourage procurement of critical supplies domestically or from free-trade partners, and jump-start R&D and commercialization of leading-edge technologies such as carbon capture and storage and, crucially, clean hydrogen. The Act is viewed as a driver for hydrogen in the U.S.

BY CARLY FIELDS

For China, Nallappan conceded that visibility on projects is low, however she suspects that they are one of the top hydrogen developers. In the Middle East, eyes are on Oman, which was expected to release its hydrogen strategy in December 2022. There is also interest in hydrogen in Africa. Australia boasts many gigawatt-scale projects. Here, renewable energy developer CWP is working on the US$70 billion Western Green Energy Hub project, one of the biggest being looked at in the region. In South Korea, the emphasis is on liquefaction projects, while Japanese companies such as Mitsubishi and Itochu are working on international rather than domestic projects.

Europe has put its backing firmly behind hydrogen too. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen recently described hydrogen as a “game changer” for Europe. “It is key in diversifying our energy sources and helping us reduce our dependency on Russian gas. We need to bring this niche market to scale.”

Speaking to Breakbulk, an EC spokesperson confirmed in December that the Commission is “actively cooperating” with all interested Member States towards possible upcoming Important Projects of Common European Interest in hydrogen and had received the first information on individual projects from Member States. The EC’s REPowerEU Plan, announced in May 2022, goes heavy on its support of hydrogen, launching a hydrogen accelerator to “unlock investment in renewable hydrogen use in industry,” with the ambition of using 20 million tonnes of renewable hydrogen in the European Union in 2030.

ROTTERDAM’S HYDROGEN HUB AMBITIONS

Port of Rotterdam has a stated aim to become the international hub for hydrogen, where import, production, use, trade and transit all come together. By 2050, it plans for some 20 million tons of hydrogen to be routed through the port. The Port Authority is working with various partners towards the introduction of a large-scale hydrogen network across the port complex. Randolf Weterings, programme manager for electrification and hydrogen at the Port of Rotterdam Authority, said to Breakbulk: “In Rotterdam we already have a significant hydrogen market and infrastructure. We will use that knowledge and asset base to scale it further up to 20 million tons eventually by 2050.”

Rotterdam sees an important role for itself in fulfilling the EC’s REPowerEU plan. It projects that it will be able to provide Northwest Europe with at least 4.6 million tonnes of hydrogen in 2030 – close to a quarter of the EU target. Weterings noted that to achieve this, policy wrinkles need to be addressed. These include the enabling of a legislative framework that attracts investors and provides certainty to both European and nonEuropean actors; a robust certification system for hydrogen imports that will be operational by 2023 at the latest; market development focused on both development of new private pipelines and infrastructure in addition to reuse of existing pipelines; and stimulating ‘first-mover’ projects to speed up the construction of the necessary infrastructure for hydrogen imports.

The Port also acknowledged that the entire value chain needs to be developed to support the expansion of hydrogen. “This starts with the expansion of renewable energies and extends to the development of production facilities, including CCS for blue hydrogen, and the backbone and pipeline infrastructure to transport the hydrogen further. It is also important