THE HOLY GRAIL

The race is on. Across the world, the promise to provide hydrogen-fuelled transportation is driving innovation. In September 2021, Korean motorcar manufacturer Hyundai unveiled a new hydrogen strategy, including a commitment to apply hydrogen fuel cell systems to all models by 2028 and to popularise green hydrogen in the transport and industrial sectors by 2040. The same month, US heavy equipment manufacturer Caterpillar and oil and gas supplier Chevron announced a collaboration to confirm hydrogen as a commercially viable alternative to traditional fuels for line-haul rail and marine vessels. And in air space, Air New Zealand still expects to test a zeroemissions plane by 2030 as part of its plan to replace its turboprop fleet with green aircraft, following its 2018 deal with turboprop manufacturer ATR to develop hybrid technology.

But, why the hype? Interest in the light colourless gas has boomed as many countries view hydrogen as a key way to decarbonise transport. It’s a renewable energy with minimal environmental impact and is considered a clean fuel as it only produces water, not carbon dioxide, during production. Furthermore, hydrogen can be seasonally stored and transported cost-effectively over long distances by ship or pipeline. Renewable hydrogen in combination with renewable electricity has the potential to entirely replace hydrocarbons in the long term.

Since the 2015 Paris Climate Agreement, the arrival of low carbon hydrogen has seen governments adopting net zero targets to slash emissions from highly polluting sectors. In 2020, hydrogen strategies were released from many countries and regions around the world, including Japan, South Korea, Australia, Chile, Morocco, China, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Austria, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal and Spain, among others. The European Commission released the Hydrogen Strategy for a Climate-neutral Europe, as part of its European Green Deal, setting out a target of one million tonnes per year of hydrogen and electrolyser capacity of six gigawatts (GW) by 2024, and ten million tonnes per year and ‘2×40 GW’ by 2030.

More importantly then, why the wait? To produce usable hydrogen, it has to be separated from water, biomass (plant and animal waste), coal or natural gas. Around 95 per cent of the hydrogen used today is produced by a process called steam reforming, which separates hydrogen atoms from carbon atoms in methane. And this process releases greenhouse gasses, which contributes to global warming.

There’s also the pertinent issue of supply and infrastructure, or lack of it. Green hydrogen, the holy grail of fuel made by using clean electricity from renewable energy technologies to electrolyse water, currently accounts for just 1 per cent of global hydrogen supply. Even if supply increased, the infrastructure to fulfil demand is virtually non-existent. That’s because green hydrogen needs to be made at locations with good solar and wind resources to keep transport and storage costs down. Good examples of these are desert regions, such as the Sahara Desert, Patagonia and certain coastal areas, as well as offshore wind farms. But this then requires a trans-national hydrogen gas pipeline system to get the hydrogen from the point of production to the point of demand, i.e. airports, ports and motorways, as well as large-scale hydrogen storage facilities. At present, there are only nine hydrogen stations in the UK, five of which are inside the M25.

While these factors are not insurmountable, they do require action

Previous page A helicopter flies over Sinot Design’s hydrogen-powered concept yacht AQUA

The page, from left The bow observatory, beach deck lounge, beach deck and exterior bow of the AQUA concept superyacht; Airbus hopes to make its ‘ZEROe’ aircrafts a reality by 2035

from governments. Europe has a well-developed gas grid that can be converted to accommodate hydrogen at minimal cost. In July 2020, a group of 11 European gas infrastructure companies presented their roadmap for realising a dedicated European Hydrogen Backbone, which would consist of about 75 per cent converted gas pipelines and 25 per cent new hydrogen pipelines. The development of such large-scale sites for renewable hydrogen production requires governments to designate these areas.

All of this – along with uncertainty over cost – has understandably led to growing scepticism over the fuel’s efficiency and commercial viability, particularly at a global scale. But on the upside, the cost of renewable energies is falling exponentially, while investment in electrolysers (the ‘clean’ technology used to create green hydrogen) is booming worldwide. It’s currently estimated that green hydrogen production capacity could achieve a 50-fold increase within the next six years, which would put it on track to supply up to 25 per cent of the world’s energy needs by 2050. The European Commission also recently announced longer-term plans to install at least 40 GW of electrolyser capacity or up to 10 million megatons of green hydrogen by 2030. If achieved, this would transform Europe into the world’s largest producer of green hydrogen.

According to the Hydrogen Council, Europe is leading with investments of $130 billion. Governments across the region have reacted enthusiastically, including the UK which, in 2021, unveiled a hydrogen economy plan to create 9,000 jobs and unlock £4 billion of investment by 2030.

As a result, blue sky thinking from global creatives is finding its wings. When Sinot Design’s superyacht concept AQUA hit the docks in 2018, it wasn’t just the glass-front observation lounge that turned heads but the futuristic-looking vessel’s liquified hydrogen propulsion system. The same year, the superyacht concept ACIONNA, designed by Andy Waugh Yacht Design, was inspired by a similar system currently being trialled in cruise ships and ferries, meaning the yacht would be equipped with its own hydrogencapturing drivetrain. Motivated by the International Maritime Organisation’s commitment to decarbonise vessels by 2050, new ideas from the maritime sector keep on coming. However, perhaps one of the biggest areas of potential lies within aviation, which could see a reduction of CO2 emissions by up to 50 per cent. In 2020, the world’s first hydrogen-powered passenger plane took off from a British airfield. Retrofitted with a hydrogenpowered engine, the six-seater aircraft completed a 19-mile demonstration around Cranfield Airport in England. Within commercial aviation, Airbus fully expects green hydrogen to power its future zero-emission aircraft – all codenamed ‘ZEROe’ – when they reach the market by 2035. The concepts rely on a ‘turbofan design’ with a range of 2,000+ nautical miles, capable of operating trans-continentally and powered by a modified gas-turbine engine running on hydrogen through combustion. The liquid hydrogen will be stored and distributed via tanks located behind the rear pressure bulkhead.

“This is a historic moment for the commercial aviation sector as a whole and we intend to play a leading role in the most important transition this industry has ever seen. The concepts we unveil today offer the world a glimpse of our ambition to drive a bold vision for the future of zero-emission flight,” says Guillaume Faury, CEO of Airbus.

“I strongly believe that the use of hydrogen – both in synthetic fuels and as a primary power source for commercial aircraft – has the potential to significantly reduce aviation’s climate impact.” THE HYDROGEN RAINBOW

GREY is the most common form using the aforementioned steam reformation production

BROWN is the cheapest yet least desirable, as it uses thermal coal in its production

TURQUOISE uses methane pyrolysis but remains unproven at scale

PURPLE uses methane pyrolysis but remains unproven at scale and is made from nuclear power

BLUE is produced using natural gas but requires carbon emissions to be captured and remains in its infancy

GREEN is made by using clean electricity from renewable energy technologies to electrolyse water, but at present is eye-wateringly expensive