Hydrogen is a sizzling subject. Some tout it as a miracle resolution – others dismiss it as ‘techno-topian’ nonsense. So what’s actually happening?
Octopus Hydrogen believes that the proper of hydrogen is beautiful ‘inexperienced hydrogen’. This treasured fuel may play an enormous position in decarbonising some tough, long-neglected areas like aviation, heavy transport and trade.
Nonetheless, when speaking about this cutting-edge tech you’ve bought to watch out. Hydrogen is available in many colors – not simply ‘inexperienced’, but in addition ‘blue’ and ‘gray’, which may be thought of much less clear. And what’s extra, on the subject of decarbonising different areas – like house heating – the UK has extra viable alternate options like warmth pumps.
Between Octopus Power Technology and Octopus Hydrogen, Octopus Power has assembled an elite, relentlessly-focused group of hydrogen consultants, who’re spending a whopping £3bn to place the proper of hydrogen in direction of the proper of options…
So what is that this mysterious factor we name hydrogen?
Hydrogen is the most typical chemical ingredient on the market. It makes up three quarters of the matter in our universe; the overwhelming majority of the Solar is made from hydrogen (which it makes use of for gas) – so are the enormous planets Jupiter and Saturn.
Right here on Earth there’s tonnes of the stuff too – however it may be fairly tough to seek out in its uncooked kind. Hydrogen is normally locked away, certain up along with different widespread substances: for instance, hydrogen is the ‘H’ in H2O (water), and the ‘hydro’ in ‘hydrocarbons’ (reminiscent of coal, oil, and fuel). All you must do is break substances like these down, separating them into their chemical constituents – and voila! You’ve bought a prepared provide of hydrogen.
As soon as separated, this hydrogen fuel can then be utilized in a ‘hydrogen gas cell’, which in apply, works a bit like a battery. Contained in the gas cell, hydrogen and oxygen ‘recombine’ to create {an electrical} present – producing energy.
As a flammable fuel, hydrogen may be additionally burnt to generate warmth (power) on demand. That is extra helpful on the subject of decarbonising industrial processes than transport. What’s thrilling right here is that hydrogen burns clear. Burning it (no less than) doesn’t give off any greenhouse fuel emissions – the one by-products are water and water vapour!
Right here then, we’ve got the potential for a low-carbon power supply – simply so long as we will discover a low-carbon option to produce it…
What several types of hydrogen are there?
We will produce hydrogen in various methods, and a few of these strategies are a lot greener than others, so it’s useful to know the distinction…
Gray hydrogen
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‘Gray’ hydrogen is normally made by separating pure fuel (methane) a ‘hydrocarbon-based’ fossil gas, into hydrogen (helpful) and each carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide (soiled). Sadly, the massive quantities of carbon given off on this course of make gray hydrogen extraordinarily carbon intensive – and that is how 98% of the World’s hydrogen is made at this time.
Blue hydrogen
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‘Blue’ hydrogen is normally made in the identical means as gray hydrogen, however *in concept* the ensuing carbon emissions are captured and saved – typically by pumping them underground.
In apply, that is proving tough. Carbon seize applied sciences include large dangers, and sometimes fail on their proposed C02 seize and storage targets – by as a lot as 80%. Sooner or later we’d see extra success, however in the intervening time this places blue hydrogen firmly within the ‘not price it’ class. Others have additionally been fast to level out that getting hydrogen from hydrocarbons like pure fuel will hold us depending on fossil fuels for the foreseeable future.
Inexperienced hydrogen
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‘Inexperienced’ hydrogen is the gold customary in hydrogen technology. Right here, hydrogen is produced through an electrical present, which separates water (H2O) into hydrogen and oxygen in a course of referred to as ‘electrolysis’. For one, electrolysis is tried and examined – we’ve been doing it for tons of of years to separate metallic ores and canopy objects with steel coatings, for instance. What’s extra, as long as the electrical energy used to energy the method comes from renewable sources, hydrogen manufacturing may be carbon impartial!
Nonetheless, it’s price noting that making inexperienced hydrogen is pretty power intensive in the intervening time, and so this technique presently makes up a comparatively small portion of hydrogen manufacturing total.
That’s what Octopus Hydrogen is right here to alter.
Inexperienced Hydrogen or go house
Provided that ‘gray hydrogen’ is closely polluting – dirtier, even than coal, and ‘blue hydrogen’ is proving tough to roll out in apply, inexperienced hydrogen clearly seems to be probably the most promising. Past the truth that it burns with out carbon emissions, what’s so thrilling about inexperienced hydrogen is that it can be produced with renewable power once we’ve bought greater than we will use.
To offer a bit of extra backstory: tomorrow’s electrical energy can be powered by large quantities of fresh, inexperienced, photo voltaic and wind power. That is already excellent news for inexperienced hydrogen – extra renewable technology will make electrical energy cheaper, making inexperienced hydrogen cheaper to provide too.
However that’s not all, provided that we will’t management precisely when the solar shines or the wind blows, there can be instances when there’s tonnes of extra inexperienced power within the electrical grid (in actual fact, on some particularly windy days this occurs already!) To keep away from an ‘imbalance’ on the grid (which may be harmful) additional renewable provide is usually turned off. This can be a horrible waste, particularly once we nonetheless depend on fossil fuels at different instances.
As a substitute of turning off the generators, we needs to be utilizing a few of this additional inexperienced power to generate inexperienced hydrogen. That hydrogen may then be used, as an alternative of fuel and oil, to deal with a complete load of carbon-intensive industries. Over the following few years, as renewable power continues to get cheaper (and inexperienced hydrogen with it), we may see this hydrogen getting used for increasingly.
Octopus are investing £3 billion in inexperienced hydrogen manufacturing
Octopus is dedicated to creating inexperienced hydrogen a actuality. Octopus Power Technology – the arm of the Octopus Power group who construct and function tons of of wind and photo voltaic farms throughout Europe – have, along with impartial renewable large RES, pledged to make investments a large £3bn into rising inexperienced hydrogen manufacturing over the following ten years.
Octopus Hydrogen: driving decarbonisation with inexperienced hydrogen
Nonetheless, if inexperienced hydrogen goes to decarbonise tough, onerous to succeed in sectors, we’re going to want to develop and scale up hydrogen-based applied sciences and purposes, in addition to inexperienced hydrogen technology itself.
To this finish, in 2021 Octopus based Octopus Hydrogen. This crack-squad of hydrogen consultants are working with various cutting-edge inexperienced hydrogen initiatives, supplying the gas and experience wanted to make inexperienced hydrogen work as onerous as attainable.
Provided that producing inexperienced hydrogen continues to be pretty power intensive, Octopus Hydrogen work onerous to resolve the place to pay attention their efforts. In some areas, it’s price remembering that inexperienced hydrogen nonetheless has fairly a option to go; in others there are clearly higher alternate options. Nonetheless, in sectors like transport, hydrogen can already compete with current, dirtier fuels – and right here Octopus Hydrogen has bought the ball nicely and really rolling… So what do Octopus Hydrogen plan to make use of Hydrogen for?
Hydrogen-powered heavy transport
The transport sector now makes up a large 27% of the UK’s carbon emissions. Some modes of transportation, automobiles being an apparent instance, are already present process a inexperienced electrical revolution – simply take into consideration the present EVs increase. However ‘heavy’ transportation – lorries, aviation, delivery, and sure rail routes – are proving a lot trickier to scrub up. Usually, the problem is that batteries simply don’t fairly pack the punch wanted to get a lorry trundling, or a aircraft off the bottom.
Hydrogen, nevertheless, can do the job nicely, and as long as it’s generated in a inexperienced means, it’s wanting like probably the most promising methods to decarbonise these industries. In terms of transport inexperienced hydrogen is already capable of compete with current gas sources. In the meanwhile, that is the place Octopus Hydrogen’s efforts are largely focussed…
Hydrogen lorries
In April, Octopus Hydrogen’s groundbreaking partnership with MIRA Know-how Park within the Midlands is ready to go reside!
Right here you’ll be able to actually see the hydrogen trade selecting up tempo. It’s taken ages to develop the primary hydrogen refuelling stations, however innovation, agility, and snowballing curiosity imply Octopus Hydrogen have been capable of do it in a yr!
Hydrogen Powered Planes
Flight contributes a good portion of world greenhouse fuel emissions, and thus far, has barely been touched by current decarbonisation efforts. Hydrogen might be the way forward for low-carbon journey.
Octopus Hydrogen is offering 100% inexperienced hydrogen to assist develop among the world’s first business hydrogen-electric planes. They’ve partnered with inexperienced aviators ZeroAvia to energy a business plane with 500 nautical mile vary, pushed by a 600kW hydrogen-electric gas cell. ZeroAvia plans to deliver their expertise to market by 2024, serving to business zero-emission flights grow to be a actuality.
Clear hydrogen energy when the wind isn’t blowing
We’ve talked about that renewable power technology is ‘intermittent’, we will’t management when the solar shines and the wind blows. Because of this at some factors we’ve got an enormous extra of inexperienced electrons, whereas at others they’re comparatively scarce.
Inexperienced hydrogen may also help right here as a result of it affords a option to ‘retailer up’ after which ‘name on’ inexperienced power each time we’d like it. First, we use renewables to generate inexperienced hydrogen through electrolysis when photo voltaic and wind power are ample, then later, we will burn that hydrogen to generate power once we want it. Identical to we beforehand did with fuel, solely with out the dangerous emissions.
Nonetheless, hydrogen is kind of power intensive (and costly) to make. Because of this in the intervening time, there are solely sure instances (when power is in actually excessive demand) when it could be price burning inexperienced hydrogen to generate power. Usually, that inexperienced hydrogen would typically be higher used elsewhere (like transport, as we talked about earlier).
It’s additionally price taking into account that the UK’s electrical energy is at all times getting greener, however in the intervening time it’s nonetheless solely about 40% renewable. We should guarantee that we produce hydrogen when the grid is exceptionally inexperienced, in any other case producing it to assist stability the grid may find yourself producing extra carbon than it could save.
However as renewables develop, the grid will get greener and power will get cheaper, and Octopus Hydrogen’s consultants are assured that balancing the grid with inexperienced hydrogen is simply going to grow to be increasingly viable – watch this area!
Is it higher to encourage clients to make use of up ample electrical energy, or generate hydrogen with it? Technical Degree 🌶️
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In the meanwhile, the typical stage of power demand within the UK is round 30GW, with peak demand reaching 60GW. The UK presently has the capability to 10GW of power from offshore wind farms alone. By 2035 we’re aiming for a whopping 40GW. With renewable capability like that, we’re gonna must name on every thing we will to soak all that additional inexperienced power and ensure it doesn’t go to waste. Meaning clients will must be enticed with tremendous low-cost power (as Octopus is already encouraging with their sensible tariffs and trials), EVs and batteries are gonna must activate and retailer up what they will, and inexperienced hydrogen technology crops are going to have to make use of up as a lot as attainable too. In brief, it’s not an both or – there can be greater than sufficient inexperienced electrons to go round!
Heavy trade
Sooner or later, Octopus Hydrogen will even look to offer inexperienced hydrogen for heavy trade. Numerous industrial processes, such because the manufacturing of concrete, metal, and cement require excessive temperatures, that are presently generated by burning tonnes of carbon-intensive fossil fuels like fuel, coal, and coke. Fortunately, inexperienced hydrogen additionally burns sizzling, however with none of the emissions.
It’s price remembering that many industrial processes may be electrified with out hydrogen. A current paper steered that of 11 industries in Europe – accounting for 92% of heavy trade CO2 emissions – 78% of the power demand might be electrified with established applied sciences. For instance, electrical arc furnaces already account for greater than 40% of european metal manufacturing, melting down scrap.
Nonetheless, even on this state of affairs, that leaves over a fifth of business practices open to decarbonisation through inexperienced hydrogen, so there’s little doubt that it’s price exploring, particularly as inexperienced hydrogen turns into cheaper.
What shouldn’t we use hydrogen for?
‘We’ve to be sensible with hydrogen. Inexperienced hydrogen is nice, however there are some areas the place different low-carbon applied sciences look way more applicable.’ Octopus Hydrogen CEO Will Rowe tells me.
Dwelling heating, which presently makes up 14% of the UK’s carbon footprint, is a superb instance of an space the place hydrogen isn’t the most effective resolution.
As fossil fuels proceed to lose the combat for power supremacy, many giant fossils giants are making noise about ‘sustainability’ and ‘inexperienced power’, particularly the place heating is worried. Some are touting options like hydrogen boilers, proposing that they repurpose the prevailing fuel community to hold hydrogen quite than pure fuel. Others are suggesting we attempt to make our fuel community a smidge greener by mixing 20% hydrogen into the prevailing fuel grid…
Within the UK, ‘re-purposing’ the polluting fuel community for hydrogen can be an enormous job. We’d have to change out thousands and thousands of boilers concurrently, in addition to ‘stress-free’ 15% of the pipes within the community. Estimates are presently someplace round an eye-watering £1bn, and this nonetheless would not embody the ‘hidden’ prices of changing home equipment like hobs and fires.
What’s extra, you actually have to wonder if these behind these efforts are actually pushed by a real need to remodel the world’s power, or if these fossil gas corporations are extra involved about their long-invested fuel pipes and different infrastructure which may grow to be redundant in an all-electric world.
Having weighed the proof, within the race for inexperienced heating, Octopus is backing warmth pumps quite than hydrogen boilers. For starters, they’re already right here – they’re a tried and examined expertise – whereas hydrogen boilers are nonetheless fairly a way off. Warmth pumps are additionally as much as 4X extra environment friendly, safer, and prone to be far cheaper too.
On a private stage, in keeping with the Worldwide Council on Clear Transportation “By 2050, it’s thought that warmth pumps can be more cost effective than hydrogen-only [heating] applied sciences”. To be exact, they estimate that in Europe, a warmth pump will price a mean £496 a yr, together with power payments, in comparison with £1,090 for a hydrogen boiler.
So what’s subsequent for hydrogen at Octopus?
Within the subsequent few years, we’re going to see Octopus make investments closely in inexperienced hydrogen manufacturing. Along with RES, the UK’s largest impartial renewable generator, Octopus Power Technology will use their collective experience, and assets, to develop, and function £3 billion price of hydrogen crops powered by clear, inexperienced, renewable power.
On the identical time, Octopus Hydrogen can be going above and past to energy all kinds of cutting-edge purposes. Who is aware of, possibly at some point you’ll end up travelling guilt-free on a hydrogen-powered practice, or aircraft, and realise that that is the place all of it kicked off.