The NC Clean Energy Technology Center has reported that “increasingly,” utilities are proposing “unspecified ‘clean dispatchable’” generation in their resource plans, with “the most common example” being hydrogen-capable gas combustion units.

The center also reported that U.S. utilities that have recently filed integrated resource plans expect to add 92 GW of solar, 50 GW of wind, and 42 GW of methane gas units. The center did not publicly evaluate whether the amounts of solar and wind for those utilities, over the 15 to 20 years typically covered by a resource plan, could be seen as good news or a disappointment.

As for “clean dispatchable” capacity, the report lists several utilities proposing such projects: Evergy in Kansas and Missouri, Ameren Missouri, PacifiCorp, and Xcel Energy in the Upper Midwest.

One timeline for reaching 100% hydrogen power has been announced by developers of a pioneering project in Utah that is projected to use 30% hydrogen by volume mixed with 70% methane by 2025, and to reach 100% hydrogen by 2045.

Yet a report from the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA) says “it takes a lot of hydrogen” by volume to cut carbon dioxide emissions. That’s because hydrogen has a lower energy density than methane.

A hydrogen concentration of 50% by volume yields only a 24% emissions reduction, according to calculations by SS&A Power Consultancy cited by IEEFA, and a concentration of 93% is needed to reduce emissions by 80%.

The same calculations show that until 77% hydrogen by volume is reached, “hydrogen-capable” generating units will be powered primarily with methane.

Unknown costs

The IEEFA report documents proposals for “hydrogen-ready” projects from utilities and merchant developers in 18 states.

While the costs of wind, solar and storage are known today, the report says the ultimate cost of any “hydrogen-capable” gas project will not be known for years.

Hydrogen-related power projects, the report says, “require significant additional investments that will be extremely costly for ratepayers, may not actually work and will conflict with readily available and cheaper renewable options.”

The report sees “three key hurdles” that will “slow and perhaps entirely halt the widespread use of hydrogen as a replacement for methane” in turbine generators: inadequate hydrogen supply, a lack of pipeline infrastructure to transport hydrogen, and a lack of capacity to safely store hydrogen.

The pioneering Utah project has addressed those hurdles by co-locating green hydrogen production, hydrogen storage in salt domes, and gas combustion turbines.

The IEEFA report said state regulators should require utilities to compare the costs of hydrogen projects with costs of zero-carbon resources including renewables, battery storage, efficiency and virtual power plants.

Blending high levels of green hydrogen into methane, the report says, that “would consume vast amounts of renewable energy that would be better used directly to replace existing fossil fuel generation.”

Green hydrogen’s role

The policy consultancy Energy Innovation found last year that production of green hydrogen for industrial use can be profitable in much of the US, but did not evaluate hydrogen’s use for electricity production.

Current industrial uses of hydrogen include production of ammonia, largely for fertilizer, and oil refining. Ammonia could also be used as a fuel for shipping. The Green Hydrogen Coalition says that green hydrogen could also decarbonize the production of steel and cement.

The public version of the NC Clean Energy Technology Center’s report is titled “50 States of Power Decarbonization: Q2 2024 Quarterly Report Executive Summary.” The full report is available free to state policymakers and regulators, and to others for a fee.

The IEEFA report is titled “Hydrogen: Not a solution for gas-fired turbines.”

California advances flexible demand that can absorb renewable power  With flexible demand appliance standards for pool controls set to take effect in California next year, the state is now developing standards for electric storage water heaters, to be followed by standards for five more types of appliances.

PV systems can now support grid as fossil fuels decline A new report by the International Energy Agency’s Photovoltaics  Power Systems Programme (IEA-PVPS) says that existing PV systems have the technical capabilities to provide various frequency-related grid services.

Google invests in 800 MW solar project in Illinois The Double Black Diamond Solar project may be the largest solar installation east of the Mississippi when complete in 2025.

The Hydrogen Stream: U.S. companies, institutions present hydrogen plans As the hydrogen project in Appalachia moves on, American Airlines confirms its commitment to hydrogen aircrafts. Meanwhile, a Scottish distillery might soon run on hydrogen for whisky production.

Startup Enteligent secures $6 million to scale solar EV charging The company offers a DC-to-DC electric bidirectional electric vehicle charger that allows EVs to charge directly from solar panels without the need to convert to AC.

Natron Energy announces $1.4 billion sodium ion battery factory in North Carolina The company will open a 24 GW annual production facility, creating over 1,000 jobs.

From pv magazine Global

US Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm is set to join local senators and the governors of Ohio and Pennsylvania this week for the ribbon-cutting ceremony of the Appalachian Regional Clean Hydrogen Hub (ARCH2) Program Office. ARCH2 said in an email that the hub recently received up to $925 million in federal funding, marking a major milestone in its development and the nation’s shift to clean energy.

American Airlines said it will add hydrogen-powered aircraft to its fleet by 2032. The company, part of the ZeroAvia project, has agreed to the conditional purchase of 100 hydrogen-electric engines for regional jets from ZeroAvia’s powertrain development program. “In early 2023, ZeroAvia flew the maiden flight of its 19-seat Dornier 228 testbed aircraft, retrofitted with a full-size prototype hydrogen-electric powertrain on the left wing. Since then, it has completed 13 test flights and has an active certification application with the FAA for this powertrain in aircraft with up to 20 seats,” the company said in its sustainability report.

Marubeni Europower has announced a joint plan with Suntory Global Spirits to develop a small-scale hydrogen plant for decarbonizing whisky production at Auchentoshan Distillery in Scotland. “Public and stakeholder engagement is currently underway on the project, as the team continues to progress the proposals with West Dunbartonshire Council. Timings for the site to be live are to be defined, but it is expected that a planning application will be submitted later this year, with the hope that the hydrogen production facility will be up and running by 2027,” Marubeni Europower told pv magazine.

Cepsa has agreed to sell its Gasib liquefied gas subsidiary in Spain and Portugal to Abastible, a subsidiary of Chilean Empresas Copec, to support its investments in the energy transition. “This transaction is another step in our strategy to become a benchmark in the energy transition, driving investments in sustainable energy such as green hydrogen and biofuels, businesses that we expect to represent more than half of our activity by 2030,” said Cepsa CEO Maarten Wetselaar.

Linde Engineering has signed an agreement with Shell Deutschland to build a 100 MW renewable hydrogen plant for the oil company’s project at the Rheinland Energy and Chemical Park in Wesseling, Germany. ITM Power will supply the PEM electrolyzer stacks. The plant is scheduled to go into operation in 2027, said Linde Engineering. 

From pv magazine Global

The European Court of Auditors said the European Union will likely miss its 2030 renewable hydrogen targets because the bloc’s political ambitions are not backed by solid analysis. “The auditors call for a reality check to ensure that the EU’s targets are realistic and that its strategic choices on the way ahead will not impair the competitiveness of key industries or create new dependencies,” the European institution said in a recent report. 

The US Department of Energy said it has signed a $12.6 billion deal with Arches to build a hydrogen hub in California – the first of seven planned across the United States. California Governor Gavin Newsom said that hydrogen will help to decarbonize three major ports and support more than 200 cargo-handling machines, 5,000 fuel-cell trucks, 1,000 fuel-cell buses, and one marine vessel.

ZeroAvia said it will partner with Ryze to supply hydrogen for engine and flight testing at Cotswold Airport, England. This partnership will support increased hydrogen demand for the ZA600 powertrain, designed for up to 20-seat aircraft, said ZeroAvia.

Masdar said it has raised $1 billion through its second green bond issuance, divided into two $500 million tranches with five-year and 10-year tenors. It has allocated 70% to international investors and 30% to investors across the Middle East and North Africa. The funds will support equity commitments for new greenfield projects in developing economies. Masdar said aims to expand its renewable energy capacity to 100 GW by 2030 and become a leading green hydrogen producer.

From pv magazine Global

CATF said in a new report that dedicated clean hydrogen production and use can be a costly and inefficient decarbonization strategy for the power sector. The use of electrolytic hydrogen as a storage fuel to balance excess clean electricity may have limited applications, it said, but noted that “alternative strategies that minimize the need for long-duration storage, such as deploying clean firm generation like geothermal or nuclear, would likely be more cost-effective.” The report also noted the significant need for infrastructure investments to ensure any future role for hydrogen storage and transmission in the power sector.

American Airlines has signed a conditional purchase agreement with ZeroAvia for 100 hydrogen-electric engines to power regional jet aircraft. ZeroAvia said it will also receive more funds from the airline, following an initial investment in 2022 and a Series C financing round.

Extreme H has launched its first hydrogen-powered racing car. “The ‘Pioneer 25’ hydrogen race car was revealed in front of global media and invited guests aboard the series’ St. Helena vessel, with London’s Tower Bridge; providing a stunning reveal setting as the countdown officially begins to its maiden season starting in April 2025,” said the FIA-sanctioned international off-road racing series.

Nikola has wholesaled 72 Class 8 Nikola hydrogen fuel cell trucks, above the high end of truck sales guidance of 60 units during the second quarter of the year. For the first half of 2024, the company wholesaled 112 hydrogen fuel cell trucks. “We are continuing to secure our first-mover advantage in zero-emissions Class 8 trucks in North America, as well as with our HYLA hydrogen refueling solutions,” said Nikola CEO Steve Girsky. 

Hyzon said that it will halt its operations in the Netherlands and Australia. The US-based manufacturer of hydrogen fuel cell systems said that government support for fuel cell-powered transportation in Europe and Australia has diminished compared to North America’s efforts to accelerate the hydrogen transition and the adoption of zero-emission technology. The company said it expects to incur charges of around $17 million.

Agora Industry has mapped the cost of green hydrogen production in Europe, highlighting two emerging regions. “The levelised cost of hydrogen (LCOH) map shows that while wind resources are more favorable in coastal plain areas around the North and Baltic Seas, solar PV performs best in Southern Europe,” said the think tank in a report. “These hotspots could become renewable energy hubs supplying Europe with much of the electricity needed to decarbonize all sectors, including those few applications requiring green hydrogen.”

An integrated microgrid infrastructure project in Rockville, Maryland will be the largest renewable energy-powered bus depot in the nation and the first on the East Coast to produce green hydrogen on-site, according to developer AlphaStruxure.

The microgrid will be constructed at Montgomery County’s David F. Bone Equipment Maintenance & Transit Operation Center (EMTOC), which is the County’s fifth largest energy user. With the depot eventually powering 200 zero-emissions buses, it will support the County’s climate goal of reaching 100% reduction in carbon emissions by 2035.

The 7 MW microgrid will consist of 5 MW of Sunpower solar modules, a 2 MW/7.35 MWh Schneider Electric battery energy storage system, and 4.5 MW of charging capacity. It will also use SMA inverters and feature EV chargers from Heliox and PowerCharge.

The integrated microgrid, which is expected to be operational in the fall of 2025, will be interconnected to the utility, but engineered to operate indefinitely in island mode, according to AlphaStruxure. Once built, it will be able to power not just electrolysis but the depot’s five existing buildings and battery electric bus charging. As a self-sufficient microgrid, it will do so with or without utility electricity, and can export up to 2 MW back to the grid, the company reports.

Unique to this microgrid is the 1 MW hydrogen electrolyzer that will be powered by the on-site solar energy and used to support fuel cell electric buses and enhance the county’s Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) network.

The County’s 2024 fleet transition plan calls for replacing 100% of its nearly 400 fossil-fuel-powered buses with a mix of battery-electric and hydrogen fuel-cell electric buses, while also scaling the entire fleet to about 600 buses by 2035. With this microgrid, the County is planning in advance how to power these zero-emissions vehicles by strategically coupling procurement of both the vehicles and the infrastructure.

“What you don’t want is to get these vehicles on site and have no way to charge them. It’s a balance between infrastructure done and the fleets in at the same time,” said Michael Yambrach of the County’s office of energy and sustainability.

Montgomery County created a public-private partnership with AlphaStruxure to design, build, finance, own, and operate the microgrid. The Counted used AlphaStruxure’s Energy as a Service agreement under which AlphaStruxure designs, builds, owns and operates the infrastructure, and taps an investment firm for financing.

AiLO Logistics, a drayage carrier operating in the Port of Los Angeles, has placed a 100-unit order for Nikola hydrogen fuel-cell electric vehicles (FCEVs). Delivery is scheduled for 2025. AiLO Logistics, a newly rebranded company combining multiple corporations, had previously ordered 50 Nikola FCEVs. “Deliveries from that original order have commenced and are ongoing throughout 2024,” said Nikola.

Volvo said it is developing trucks with combustion engines that run on hydrogen. “On-road tests with trucks using hydrogen in combustion engines will begin in 2026, and the commercial launch is planned towards the end of this decade,” said the Swedish company, adding that the hydrogen trucks will have an operational range comparable to many diesel trucks.

Plug Power, Delta Air Lines, and Airbus plan to carry out a feasibility study for a hydrogen-based hub at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport (ATL). “The study, which preliminarily launched earlier this year, will help define the infrastructure, operational viability, and safety and security requirements needed to implement hydrogen as a potential fuel source for future aircraft operations at ATL,” said Airbus. The study is scheduled for completion by the end of 2026.

Airbus UpNext has launched a new technological demonstrator integrating a 2 MW-class superconducting electric propulsion system cooled by liquid hydrogen via a helium recirculation loop. “Our previous demonstrators have shown that superconducting technologies would be a key enabler for the high-power electrification of future hydrogen-powered aircraft,” said Airbus UpNext CEO Michael Augello. “The new demonstrator will lead to performance improvements of the propulsion system, translating into significant weight and fuel-saving potential.”

Nel Hydrogen has signed a technology licensing agreement with Reliance Industries (RIL). The deal provides RIL with an exclusive license for Nel Hydrogen’s alkaline electrolyzers in India and allows RIL to globally manufacture them for captive purposes. “Nel will through this agreement get a revenue stream from a rapidly growing market Nel could not have accessed on its own,” said Nel Hydrogen President and CEO Håkon Volldal.

Metacon and Siemens have signed a collaborative agreement to manufacture systems for green hydrogen production in Sweden for the European market. Metacon said it will become a technology partner to Siemens, with the latter contributing its digital services and software for optimization, standardization, and simulation in the manufacturing and operational phases of hydrogen plants.

Plug Power’s $1.6 billion loan guarantee for clean hydrogen facilities The Department of Energy’s Loan Programs Office announced a conditional commitment for loan guarantee to help finance construction of up to six facilities across several U.S. states to produce clean hydrogen using Plug Power’s own electrolyzer technology.

U.S. solar exceeds five million installations Over half of all U.S. solar installations have come online since the start of 2020 and over 25% have come online since the Inflation Reduction Act became law.

No ceiling on U.S. glass opportunity With PV module capacity ramping up, glass suppliers have been investing in new solar glass production capacity. As in India and China, new facilities are popping up in North America, with unique twists to ensure competitiveness, such as using recycled material.

‘We must push back on net billing’ With California’s NEM 3.0 legislation having gutted panel sales and Arizona heading a bevy of other US states preparing to reduce solar-export payments, it’s time the United States solar industry stepped up, for ourselves as well as our customers.

Faulty installations often to blame for battery fires The Electric Power Research Institute, the U.S. Department of Energy’s Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, and German battery analysis specialist Twaice have jointly evaluated 26 battery fires between 2018 and 2023. They say that the diversity of components plays a critical role in igniting fires.

U.S. solar industry week in review pv magazine USA spotlights news stories of the past week including market trends, project updates, policy changes and more.

The U.S. multi-pronged approach to onshoring solar manufacturing The U.S. aims for a domestic solar supply chain, but the industry’s capacity to serve the early stages in solar manufacturing are minimal. Will its recent industrial policy efforts make a difference?

The U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Loan Programs Office (LPO) announced a conditional commitment to Plug Power’s subsidiary, Plug Power Energy Loan Borrower, for a loan guarantee of up to $1.66 billion to help finance the construction of up to six clean hydrogen facilities across several states.

Clean or “green” hydrogen differs from traditional “blue” hydrogen, by using renewable energy sources such as solar and wind rather than fossil fuel-based electricity.

Advancing clean hydrogen is a key component of the Biden-Harris Administration’s plan to build a robust clean energy economy. To advance clean hydrogen the administration created an inter-agency hydrogen task force  to deploy a more holistic, “whole of government approach” to clean hydrogen across the administration.

Clean hydrogen has potential in industries that would otherwise be hard to decarbonize, including heavy-duty transportation.  A year ago, the Biden-Harris Administration put out a National Clean Hydrogen Strategy and Roadmap, outlining opportunities for the U.S. to domestically produce 10 million metric tonnes (MMT) of clean hydrogen annually by the end of the decade, 20 MMT annually by 2040, and 50 MMT annually by 2050.

In October, the DOE announced funding of $7 billion to launch seven regional clean hydrogen hubs around the country, each aimed at more broadly supporting the commercial-scale deployment of the resource. The funding for the hubs comes from the 2021 Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. All seven hubs are estimated to produce a joint three million metric tons of hydrogen each year, and slash 25 million metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions every year.

This loan guarantee to Plug, if finalized, will support an estimated 100 to 300 jobs during the construction period when at full capacity, and at least 50 new full-time jobs for each location.

Plug has a development pipeline that includes the build-out of clean hydrogen facilities in several potential locations across the United States to supply its national customer base with end-to-end clean hydrogen at scale.

Plug’s hydrogen generation network reached significant milestones early in 2024. Its plants in Georgia and Tennessee produced at nameplate capacity, with a combined liquid hydrogen production capacity of 25 tons-per-day (TPD). Additionally, Plug’s Louisiana plant is expected to be completed and begin producing this year, adding 15 TPD and bringing the Company’s total liquid hydrogen production capacity to 40 TPD. If finalized, the loan funding will support an integrated and resilient commercial scale clean hydrogen fueling network across several regions of the United States.

The clean hydrogen facilities will use Plug’s own electrolyzer stacks that are manufactured at the company’s state-of-the-art gigafactory in Rochester, N.Y. Plug is among the leading commercial-scale manufacturers of electrolyzers in the United States and currently operates the largest Proton Exchange Membrane (PEM) electrolyzer system in the United States at its Georgia hydrogen plant.

Electrolyzers use electricity to split water into its component parts, hydrogen and oxygen. Plug’s PEM technology reportedly allows it to operate efficiently even with variable electricity, enabling it to leverage electricity from intermittent renewables. Electrolyzers that use renewables to power their hydrogen production produce emissions-free clean hydrogen. The electrolyzer stacks can be easily configured to produce systems at 1 MW, 5 MW and 10 MW scales.

The hydrogen fuel from the project is expected to power fuel cell-electric vehicles used in the material handling, transportation, and industrial sectors, resulting in an estimated 84% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions compared to conventional blue hydrogen production.

The benefits of harnessing hydrogen fuel cells in applications such as material handling equipment include enhanced operational efficiency, reduced environmental impact through zero-emission operations, and increased productivity due to faster refueling times compared to conventional batteries. Major corporations such as Amazon, Walmart, and Home Depot use Plug’s hydrogen fuel cells across their warehouse and distribution centers.

Plug is expected to develop and ultimately implement a strong Community Benefits Plan for each project and has committed to working with local communities for project siting, including soliciting input from local economic development corporations.

LPO works with all borrowers to create good-paying jobs with strong labor standards from construction through the life of the loan. Plug also supports the Justice40 Initiative, which set the goal that 40% of overall benefits of certain federal investments flow to disadvantaged communities overburdened by pollution.

While this conditional commitment indicates DOE’s intent to finance the project, the company must satisfy certain technical, legal, environmental, and financial conditions before the Department enters into definitive financing documents and funds the loan guarantee.

From pv magazine Global

The US Department of Energy’s Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Technologies Office (HFTO) has published a detailed strategy and planning document that will help guide hydrogen innovation and research in the coming years. It outlines HFTO’s mission, goals, and strategic approach, said the Department of Energy. The document aims for “clean” hydrogen production costs of $2/kg by 2026 and $1/kg by 2031, but also electrolyzer system costa of $250/kW (low-temperature electrolyzers) and $500/kW (high-temperature electrolyzers) by 2026.

Plug Power has agreed to supply up to 3 GW of electrolyzers to Allied Green Ammonia (AGA) for its planned hydrogen-to-ammonia facility in the Northern Territory, Australia. The basic engineering and design package is expected in May, with a final investment decision expected by the fourth quarter of 2025, said Plug Power. It noted that it aims to start delivering 3 GW of electrolyzer from the first quarter of 2027.

From pv magazine Global

A group of researchers from the University of Cantabria in Spain has conducted a pilot project for a self-sufficient home that runs exclusively on photovoltaics, batteries, and hydrogen storage.

“This plant combines PV panels and hydrogen (PVHyP) as a method of seasonal energy storage, achieving the ambitious target of accomplishing an electrically self-sufficient social housing unit throughout the year,” the group said. “To achieve this goal, a tailor-made energy management strategy (EMS) has been developed based on the state of charge of the battery pack and the energy flow within the PVHyP, ensuring that the electrical consumption of the home is always covered either through PV panels, fuel cell or battery pack.”

For their simulation, the scientists collected data from January 2022 to December 2023 for an 80 m2 social home that is located in Novales, a small village in northern Spain. Electricity bills from the years before the renewable electrification of the house showed that it consumed 2,513 kWh/year with an average daily consumption of 6.88 kWh. The average consumption in the winter and fall was over 7.3 kWh, and in summer, 5.88 kWh/day.

With these data, the scientists moved to size the energy system using software optimization and market analysis. Finally, they settled on 20 solar panels with a power of 40 W each placed on the roof, as well as four 2.4 kWh batteries. The rest of the plant was installed in a shed in the neighboring plot. That included a 35 L water tank that used tap water after purification for electrolysis and a 600 L hydrogen storage tank at 300 bar.

With the proposed system configuration, the PV panels first must supply the house load. The excess generation will then charge the battery, and once that is full, it is stored in a high-pressure storage tank in the form of hydrogen generated by an electrolyzer.

“When the solar irradiation is insufficient to cover the demand of the house, the batteries supply the necessary energy to the dwelling,” explained the academics. “If the batteries are discharged, the fuel cell generates electricity to charge the batteries from the stored hydrogen. As far as possible, the hydrogen stored in the buffer is used first to avoid the compression stage, thus increasing energy efficiency. The system and the house are connected to the grid on a self-consumption basis to sell back to the grid all the excess energy.”

According to the research group, the house demonstrated self-sufficiency, and its LCOE was cut by about one-third and the tenants saved $1,251 annually. “Almost 15,200 kWh have been saved from fossil fuels, which corresponds to approximately 2,260 kg of CO2,” emphasized the researchers.

They presented their findings in the study “Sustainable and self-sufficient social home through a combined PV‑hydrogen pilot,” published in Applied Energy.

RE+ Events announced that Germany is the official Spotlight Country for RE+ 24 in Anaheim, Calif., showcasing German clean energy firms’ products and services before 40,000 renewable energy aficionados.

Focusing on Germany supports the U.S.-Germany Climate and Energy Partnership signed in 2021 by U.S. President Biden and German Chancellor Merkel. The partnership was formed to deepen collaboration on policies and sustainable technologies needed to address climate change. The countries share a commitment to achieving the goals of the Paris Agreement by taking action this decade to keep a 1.5-degree Celsius temperature limit within reach.

Germany is currently leading its European neighbors in terms of photovoltaic (PV) production. In 2023, Germany’s PV systems generated nearly 60 TWh of electricity. Last July the maximum solar output of 40.1 GW, which corresponded to 68% of electricity generation, according to Fraunhofer ISE. The country’s PV capacity continues to grow rapidly, exceeding the German government’s targets last year.

The 2024 Spotlight Country Pavillion in the RE+ exhibit hall will feature German companies and partners within the hydrogen, solar, storage, wind energy, and zero-emission vehicles industries. Companies that participate receive key benefits according to RE+ including a specialty designated location on the RE+ 24 show floor, thought leadership opportunities at the Global Markets Summit and Innovation Stage, networking opportunities at an exclusive reception and marketing promotion to the RE+ Events network.

The Spotlight Country is supported by German organizations: EUPD Research, Fraunhofer, The Representative of German Business for the Western United States (GACC West), International Solar Energy Research Center (ISC Konstanz), and the VDMA.  

RE+ 24 will be celebrating its 20^th anniversary when it takes place September 9 to 12. German companies interested in exhibiting or sponsoring should contact pvelazco@re-plus.com or visit re-plus.com/spotlight-country for more information.

New hybrid energy technology combines Schneider Electric’s EcoStruxure Microgrid Solution and the design-build services offered by Mainspring’s Linear Generator. The result is a fuel-flexible solution for commercial and industrial customers looking to decarbonize.

A microgrid is a self-contained electrical network that generates electricity on site by a fuel source such as solar and stored for when it is needed most. The microgrid can be connected to the power grid or can decentralize and “island” when needed. The ability to decentralize power ensures that critical facilities, such as data centers or healthcare facilities, have electricity to power critical operations and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. They can also be used in remote areas where energy access is limited or nonexistent to provide much-needed resources.

As part of Schneider Electric’s cybersecure solution architecture, EcoStruxure Microgrid Operations is a dedicated, packaged microgrid controller solution. The hardware and software solution offers streamlined operator experience, advanced distributed energy resource management, advanced grid management, and more, according to Schneider Electric.

The Mainspring Linear Generator was launched commercially in 2020 and the company reports it is installed today in multiple regions of the U.S., running operations for Fortune 500 companies.

These generators use a low-temperature reaction of fuel and air to create electricity, continuously. When used in conjunction with solar modules, the generators can ensure optimal use of the sun’s energy at all times. The Mainspring generator also lets customers switch among multiple fuel options, including renewable options such as biofuels, green ammonia and green hydrogen.

 “We designed the fuel-flexible Linear Generator so that as clean fuels become increasingly available and cost-effective, organizations of all kinds can capitalize on them without having to replace or retrofit equipment,” said Shannon Miller, Mainspring CEO and founder.

Bloom Energy is going to be working with oil and gas company Shell to study how the former’s proprietary hydrogen electrolyzer technology could offer decarbonization solutions. 

The two companies are aiming to develop replicable, large-scale solid oxide electrolyzer systems to generate hydrogen that will then be used by Shell – a technology that “could represent a potentially transformative moment for opportunities to decarbonize several hard to abate industry sectors,” according to K. R. Sridhar, founder, chairman, and CEO of Bloom Energy.

“Green” hydrogen is generally defined as hydrogen produced using renewable energy and water electrolysis technology, as opposed to other forms of hydrogen that are derived from fossil fuels. 

Bloom’s electrolyzers are manufactured in California and Delaware, and can be used for many industrial applications, such as refineries, ammonia, steel processing and cement plants, Rick Beuttel, the company’s vice president, hydrogen business, told pv magazine USA. 

“Currently in the United States, the industrial sector contributes a significant amount of carbon emissions. They need innovative new technologies to help them decarbonize some of their processes, where electrification is not readily available or even feasible,” Beuttel said. 

That’s where green hydrogen could come in. The American green hydrogen industry has seen strong policy support this year, due to its role in providing long-duration energy storage capabilities as well as potentially decarbonizing industries that would be hard to electrify. A report from the Deloitte Center for Sustainable Progress released last June took a closer look at the potential of green hydrogen to meet the demands of heavy industry, and found global market milestones of $642 billion by 2030 and $1.4 trillion by 2050.

However, green hydrogen production is expensive, said Beuttel, and government policies and  regulations help to enable the green hydrogen market and drive down production costs to provide solid business cases for companies to make investment decisions in green hydrogen projects.

In this context, Beuttel noted that Bloom Energy’s technology is 15% to 30% more efficient than competing, low-temperature technologies – and with electricity accounting for around 70% of the cost of producing green hydrogen, “solid oxide technology will make a meaningful improvement in driving down the cost of green hydrogen and helping to decarbonize heavy industry, transportation, and produce the liquid fuels of the future with no carbon footprint,” he said. 

Scaling up electrolyzer capacity will be a key part of growing the green hydrogen industry in the U.S.; a large chunk of electrolyzer production is currently outsourced to manufacturers overseas, experts say, and one of the key challenges to bringing more of that manufacturing capacity back to the U.S. is finding the capital needed to build infrastructure. 

Last May, Bloom Energy launched the world’s largest solid oxide electrolyzer installation at a research facility in California, a unit that the company says produces up to 25% more hydrogen per megawatt than other commercially demonstrated, lower temperature electrolyzers. The 4 MW electrolyzer system was installed and brought online in two months, and has the capability to produce over 2.4 metric tons per day of hydrogen.

First Solar plans to double manufacturing capacity by 2026 The U.S.-based solar panel manufacturer issued strong 2024 revenue expectations in its Q4 earnings report.

The importance of community solar in all-of-the-above renewable energy strategy Recent studies show the many benefits of community solar, and to keep it on an upward trajectory, the Coalition for Community Solar Access encourages growth in third-party programs.

People on the move: Sunnova, Soltec, REC Solar and more Job moves in solar, storage, cleantech, utilities and energy transition finance.

Solar at “twice the natural capacity factor of the sun” Eland Solar 2 and Skeleton Creek are two high-capacity factor renewable power plants moving through development.

U.S. solar up 52% in 2023 as nation deploys 35.3 GW of capacity Bloomberg NEF says U.S. clean energy generation grew by 0.9%, with wind and hydro generation falling and solar generation growing 15.4%.

Affordable Wire Management introduces two utility-scale hardware products The company introduced an assisted tensioning kit for messenger cables and a beam rod that can attach to a variety of pile types.

Energy Vault begins building first-of-its-kind green hydrogen storage project The 293 MWh green hydrogen and battery storage facility is being built in utility Pacific Gas & Electric’s service territory in Northern California.

Meyer Burger to shut down plant in Germany and pivot to the U.S. Swiss solar panel maker Meyer Burger will seek shareholder approval for a rights issue of as much as $284 million to finance the completion of its U.S. manufacturing facilities in Colorado and Arizona.

DOE announces $366 million for energy projects in rural and remote communities  The funding will support solar, energy storage and other clean energy deployment across 20 states and 30 tribal nations.

NREL finds 100% renewable scenario improves LA air quality and health NREL modeled that LA and surround counties could save over $4 billion from improved health outcomes. The most significant reductions in emissions resulted from electrification and infrastructural changes to the non-power sector, such as transportation and buildings.

Hope at the end of solar supply turbulence Growing demand for solar products is colliding with the hesitant shipment strategies of manufacturers, according to pvXchange’s Martin Schachinger.

All floating PV technologies at a glance An international research team has produced a comprehensive overview of more than 300 works of published literature on floating PV, spanning 2013 to 2022. The scientists laid out the benefits and challenges of the technology and pointed to gaps that should be filled with future studies.

Massachusetts lawmakers urged to adopt “million solar roofs” equivalent In California, Governor Schwarzenegger’s million solar roofs initiative spurred the nation’s largest small-scale solar market. Environment America created a petition to support a 10 GW buildout of solar in Massachusetts to preserve its forests and other lands.

Anza expands back-end visibility for solar module procurement The platform has added granular insights into technical, commercial, supply-chain, and risk-related aspects of equipment procurement.

Utility-scale energy storage company Energy Vault has begun constructing what will be the largest green hydrogen long-duration energy storage project in the U.S., located in Northern California.

The green hydrogen and battery storage facility, which will be able to provide 293 MWh of energy, is being built in the city of Calistoga, in utility Pacific Gas & Electric’s service territory. Calistoga is especially prone to public safety power shut-offs – that is, proactive outages that the utility deploys when weather conditions increase the risk of wildfires caused by its power lines. PG&E’s infrastructure has been linked with multiple wildfires in Northern California and in 2019, the company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy as a result of these liabilities.

The Calistoga Resiliency Center, as the project is called, is expected to be completed by the end of Q2 2024, at which point it will be “the first-of-its-kind and the largest utility-scale green hydrogen energy storage project in the United States,” according to Energy Vault. The facility will essentially replace the diesel generators that PG&E currently uses to maintain back-up power in the region during wildfire-related outages. It will be able to power downtown Calistoga and the areas immediately around it, including critical facilities like fire and police stations, for up to 48 hours.

Since this project is a first-of-its kind, it required specific design and engineering capabilities, according to Marco Terruzzin, the company’s chief product officer.

The new facility’s “innovative design is an example of two proven technologies – hydrogen fuel cells and batteries – being used in concert on a single site to provide high-quality emission-free power,” Terruzzin told pv magazine USA.

The facility will operate independently from the wider grid, meaning the fuel cells and batteries must work together to provide a ‘grid-forming’ electricity supply which must reach instantaneously to the demands of the Calistoga microgrid and increase or decrease power output accordingly, he added.

“Deploying cost-effective, next-generation energy supply and long-term storage technologies is essential to ensuring grid reliability and to achieving PG&E’s goal of a net zero energy system by 2040,” Mike Delaney, PG&E’s vice president of utility partnerships and innovation, said.

Under the companies’ 10.5-year agreement, Energy Vault will own and operate the center, providing PG&E with dispatchable power. The company plans to use its energy management system, dubbed VaultOS, to optimize the project’s operations.

The California market is particularly appealing to Energy Vault when it comes to ultra-long duration energy storage solutions because of the increased risk of prolonged wildfire-related shutoffs, Terruzzin said.

More broadly, the company is seeing an increased interest in the use of green hydrogen in utility-scale microgrids from utilities looking for configurations similar to the one being constructed in Calistoga, as well as from the public and private sectors interested in multi-day resiliency solutions, he added.

“We expect that interest to increase as customers shift their focus from simple [power purchase agreements] to 24/7 PPAs that match their electric power hour-by-hour with the electricity being generated in the region in which the customer’s electric load is located,” he said.

On the floor at RE+ NE 2024: Concrete racking, no caulk needed, basketball, and more RE+ Northeast 2024 showcased a plethora of solar innovations and industry advancements, from concrete ballast racking systems to cutting-edge battery technology, as 3,500 industry professionals gathered in Boston despite the cold weather.

California regulators approve $1.9 billion investment plan for zero-emission vehicle infrastructure The plan is set to create the most extensive charging and hydrogen refueling network in the country.

Standard Solar acquires 84 MW community solar portfolio in Illinois Construction of the 14 projects in the portfolio is expected to begin this year.

Blue Ridge Power plans 164 MW solar tracker-based plant in Virginia Soltec to supply SF7 trackers that were introduced to the U.S. market last month, and are not only designed to adapt to terrain, but can be locally manufactured, the company reports.

Verde Technologies advances solar perovskite thin film roll-to-roll coating  A spinoff of the University of Vermont, specializing in single junction and all thin-film tandem perovskite solar technologies, demonstrated that its coating processes are transferable to existing commercial roll-to-roll manufacturing lines.

Utility-scale solar had a record year in 2023. It’s set to double in 2024 The Energy Information Administration (EIA) projects nearly 63 GW of utility-scale electric capacity additions, most of which are solar and batteries.

Merida Aerospace developing perovskite PV cells for space Merida Aerospace, a U.S. aerospace company, is developing perovskite solar cells for low-Earth-orbit satellites. It says perovskite solar cells could be a more cost-effective and efficient option than traditional cells.

Solar wafer prices momentarily stable, masking turbulence of industry consolidation In a new weekly update for pv magazine, OPIS, a Dow Jones company, provides a quick look at the main price trends in the global PV industry.

Corporate PPAs hit record high in 2023, says BloombergNEF BloombergNEF says in a new report that corporations publicly announced 46 GW of solar and wind power purchase agreements (PPAs) in 2023, up 12% year on year. It says the increase was driven by a surge of activity in Europe.

Longroad’s largest solar project to begin commercial operations in mid-2025  Sun Streams 4 is a 377 MW solar facility 1200MWh battery energy storage system in Arizona. 

LG launches new residential storage solution LG has developed two versions of its new enblock E storage system, each with usable energy capacities of 12.4 kWh and 15.5 kWh. It says the two models, sized at 451 mm x 330 mm, can be easily deployed in small spaces.

Electrolyzer manufacturing capacity could outpace demand by 2030 According to a recent report by Clean Energy Associates, China, North America and Europe will reflect some 93% of the electrolyzer capacity global market share.

Qcells partners to recover 95% of solar panel value with recycler The partnership of Qcells and Solarcycle marks a first-of-its kind recycling partnership between a U.S. solar manufacturing operation and a recycling provide.

Hawaii legislation seeks to undo “massive momentum killer” for rooftop solar After passing a new solar-battery export program that has sparked the ire of rooftop solar advocates, legislators have submitted a bill that would increase payment for battery-tied exported solar production.

Electrolyzer manufacturing capacity could outstrip demand by two times by the end of a decade, according to a new report from Clean Energy Associates.

The report, which looks at the technology trends and policy impacts in the green hydrogen space, forecasts that global manufacturing capacity for green hydrogen will touch 54 GW by 2027. China is likely to account for almost half of that global capacity, and when combined with North America and Europe, will reflect some 93% of the electrolyzer capacity global market share, its authors noted. The country currently accounts for 61% of manufacturing capacity across the world, due in part to a complete supply chain and relatively low costs. 

However, especially given the passage of the Inflation Reduction Act in the U.S. and the policy support that provides the green hydrogen sector, North American manufacturing capacity is also set to rapidly grow, the report noted. 

While hydrogen can be made using multiple raw materials, including coal and natural gas, green hydrogen – that is, hydrogen produced with renewables – has increasingly become a priority for the U.S. as a potentially critical part of the clean energy transition. Green hydrogen is made by electrolyzing water using renewable energy like wind or solar. 

The report also compared different electrolyzer technologies, including alkaline and proton exchange membrane (PEM). It estimates that alkaline electrolyzers, which are largely clustered in China and Europe, will remain the most prevalent technology over the next decade, thanks in part to lower costs and the potential for efficiency improvements. PEM electrolyzers, meanwhile, are manufactured more globally but depend on electrodes that use rare materials, which could be a potential challenge.

While the report estimated that electrolyzer manufacturing capacity could outpace demand by 2030, it also noted that the actual usable capacity is likely to be less than nameplate capacity.

“The forecasted electrolyzer demand is highly uncertain, as it can be affected by policy implementation, downstream industry developments, low-cost renewable energy availability and operation of existing projects,” the report said.  

The industry as a whole has been focusing on the issue of ramping up electrolyzer manufacturing capacity. One of the key challenges it faces in doing so is accessing the necessary capital – however, a couple of announcements last year indicate that trend could be changing. For instance, Verdagy revealed plans to open a new plant in Newark, California, early this year to build large volumes of advanced water electrolyzers. 

Electrolyzer manufacturer Electric Hydrogen, meanwhile, completed an oversubscribed $380 million Series C financing. The company is building a 1.2 GW facility to produce commercial electrolyzer systems in Devens, Massachusetts, with deliveries expected later this year. 

Some experts are also looking at alternatives to the rare materials used in PEM electrolyzer technology – like clean chemistry company Mattiq, which announced in October that it is developing a portfolio of alternatives to iridium, one of those materials. According to the International Renewable Energy Agency, the current iridium production levels could support manufacturing some 3 GW to 7.5 GW of electrolyzers every year. Mattiq, however, is looking at alternative catalysts that could be used in these electrolyzers instead. 

Nikola Corporation, a manufacturer of heavy-duty battery and fuel cell electric vehicles, has opened the first in what will become a network of hydrogen refueling stations in Southern California.

The station, located in Ontario, Calif. is part of Nikola’s HYLA brand and can fuel up to 40 of the company’s hydrogen fuel cell electric Class 8 trucks every day. Nikola is aiming to build a network of up to 60 such hydrogen fueling stations over the next few years, and plans to have nine up and running by the end of the second quarter of this year. 

While the Ontario station is part of a private network at this point in time, the company is designing the HYLA stations to accommodate all 700-bar Class 8 OEM trucks, Ole Hoefelmann, Nikola’s president of energy, told pv magazine USA. 

The process of launching this first refueling station has also provided the company with lessons learned, according to Hoefelmann. For instance, “it is beneficial to bring city government officials like city planners and fire departments to the project discussion as early as possible. They are great partners and most interested in bringing low emissions solutions to their communities,” he said. 

The Arizona-headquartered company began serial production of its hydrogen fuel cell electric truck last summer and has also seen some regulatory support, receiving a collective $58.2 million from regulatory agencies last year to build out its network of heavy-duty truck hydrogen refueling stations. The largest of these was a $41.9 million grant from the California Transportation Commission and California Department of Transportation, aimed at constructing six hydrogen refueling stations in Southern California. Also last summer, the company announced a voluntary recall of more than 200 Class 8 Tre battery-electric vehicles, following a fire that affected multiple trucks at its headquarters in Phoenix. 

Now, Nikola is focused on securing a robust supply chain and refueling infrastructure for hydrogen, which it sees as important to bringing more hydrogen fuel cell electric trucks onto the roads. The company expects that once it has completed bringing nine refueling stations online in the next few months, it will have one of the largest heavy-duty hydrogen refueling networks in the world. 

As of 2023, the U.S. had 59 retail hydrogen refueling stations, mostly in California, but few were equipped to cater to heavy-duty vehicles. But the U.S. is currently leading the development of new technologies and protocols to fulfill the heavy-duty transportation requirements, Hoefelmann said, adding that in the coming months, the company expects to see some of those innovative solutions on the field. 

Other companies are also taking a closer look at hydrogen refueling capacity. In 2022, Daimler Truck North America, NextEra Energy Resources and BlackRock Renewable Power entered a memorandum of understanding, with a $650 million initial investment, that included looking at building out charging infrastructure for medium- and heavy-duty battery electric and hydrogen fuel cell vehicles. 

However, one challenge companies in the space continue to face regards permitting processes, and obstacles like extensive waiting times or unclear process streamlines continue to discourage the infrastructure developers, Hoefelmann added. 

California lawmakers have provided one good example on how to deal with that: Senate Bill 1291, passed in 2022, requires all California cities and counties to develop and expedite, streamlined permitting processes for hydrogen fueling stations, Hoefelmann said. 

Nextracker makes its mark in distributed energy generation Nextracker inked agreements with channel partners trained to resell the company’s flagship NX Horizon solar tracker to help scale DG sales to the commercial and industrial segment.

Battery storage plus hydrogen can enable a reliable, cheap clean energy transition  A Stanford University report found that transitioning to clean energy could enable many countries to reduce annual energy cost by around 61%. 

RFP alert: DOE to provide $1.2 billion for transmission buildout The RFP will use capacity contracts to commit DOE to purchase up to 50% of the maximum capacity of a transmission line.

Super Bowl to be hosted in first 100% renewable energy NFL stadium The Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas sources 10 MW of off-site solar, as well as wind, geothermal and hydroelectric power, among other sustainability measures.

Utah bill proposes rooftop solar net metering rate protection In the wake of net metering cuts leading to an industrywide implosion in California, Utah regulators are proposing a law that would increase compensation for exporting rooftop solar generation.

Yaskawa Solectria Solar to exhibit U.S.-made utility-scale inverters In partnership with solar panel manufacturer First Solar, the company developed the inverters to reduce degradation rates.

People on the move: GlidePath Power Solutions, Onyx Renewable Partners, and more Job moves in solar, storage, cleantech, utilities and energy transition finance.

A combination of battery storage and hydrogen fuel cells can help the U.S., as well as most countries, transition to a 100% clean electricity grid in a low cost and reliable fashion, according to a new report from Stanford University.

The report, published in iScience, took a closer look at the costs involved with ensuring a reliable grid in 145 countries, that used renewable energy – including solar, wind, hydroelectric and geothermal resources – to power their grids, transportation, buildings, industry, agriculture, forestry, fishing and the military. The main energy storage options it took into account included hydropower, batteries and green hydrogen, which is produced using renewables. 

The study found that transitioning to clean energy could enable these countries to achieve overall annual energy cost reductions of around 61%. 

“The first step is to electrify all energy sectors as much as possible… the efficiency of electricity over combustion reduces energy demand by 38.0%,” when averaged over 145 countries, Mark Z. Jacobson, the author of the study and professor of civil and environmental engineering at Stanford University, told pv magazine USA. 

The second step is to provide the electricity with just wind-water-solar sources and storage, and eliminating energy to mine, transport, and refine fossil fuels and uranium saves another 11.3% of all energy worldwide, he added. End-use energy efficiency improvements beyond business-as-usual reduce energy requirements another 6.6%, and a forecasted reduction in the cost per unit of energy of about 9% results in an overall annual cost savings to a country of 61%. 

The study will help electricity system planners create a more efficient and cost-effective future energy system based on clean, renewable electricity, Jacobson said.

“The results provide countries with concrete evidence and the confidence that 100% clean, renewable grids not only lower costs but are also just as reliable as the current grid system,” he added. 

The study employed three kinds of computer modeling: a “three-dimensional global weather-climate-air pollution model, a spreadsheet model and a model that matches electricity, heat, cold, and hydrogen demand with supply, storage and demand response assuming perfect grid interconnection,” according to a statement. 

It found that while existing hydropower and batteries can ensure grid reliability, adding green hydrogen to the system can reduce the energy costs in some regions, although a combination of hydropower and green hydrogen with no batteries is always more expensive than a combination of the three. This is because every region with a highly renewable grid will need short-term bursts of power, such as that provided by hydropower or batteries, but not every region necessarily needs the long-term energy storage provided by hydrogen.

Green hydrogen storage can absorb excess electricity when there is too much wind or solar on the grid, and then provide storage on scales of hours to a few days, when wind and solar are not available and hydropower and batteries are depleted, Jacobson said. 

But the technology still faces challenges; like any storage type, up-front cost is always an issue, although the cost benefits are large in comparison, he added. Policy makers can help address these challenges by focusing funding on solutions like battery storage and green hydrogen, rather than on carbon capture, direct air capture, blue hydrogen, non-hydrogen electro-fuels, small nuclear reactors, and bioenergy, Jacobson said.

Hydrogen company Plug Power launched operations at the largest liquid green hydrogen plant in the U.S., located in Woodbine, Georgia.

The facility has the capacity to produce 15 tons of green hydrogen per day; enough, the company says, to power some 15,000 forklifts daily. It includes eight, 5 MW electrolyzers; the largest such electrolyzer deployment in the U.S., which produce hydrogen. This hydrogen gas is then condensed into a liquid, by dropping its temperature to -423F, at which point it can be routed to hydrogen fueling stations. The facility is located a mile away from highway I-95 and 20 miles away from I-10, giving it easy access to commercial and industrial centers across the country, the company said. 

The hydrogen produced by the new facility will add to the liquid hydrogen deliveries that Plug Power currently makes to its customers for fuel cell electric vehicle fleets, stationary power applications, and other such uses. Liquid and gaseous hydrogen are both expected to positively impact the company’s bottom line, Plug Power said. 

The move comes as interest in green hydrogen grows as a tool to decarbonize specific industries, including heavy-duty transportation, heavy manufacturing and aviation.  

“The hydrogen market in the U.S. is at an inflection point. We expect hydrogen infrastructure and product offerings to vastly expand in the next five years, including increasing commercial uses in hard-to-abate sectors like concrete, steel, glass manufacturing, and more,” Andy Marsh, CEO of Plug Power, told pv magazine USA. 

The company is committed to driving that continued market expansion with the buildout of its North American hydrogen production plant network, strong partners, and expanded electrolyzer production, Marsh added. 

The role of the hydrogen sector in the clean energy transition has been backed by recent legislation, such as the Inflation Reduction Act – and specifically, the clean hydrogen production tax credit (PTC), which Marsh said has the potential to catalyze the domestic hydrogen sector, and drive down costs, allowing the industry to scale in a meaningful way. At the same time, “there are still a lot of outstanding questions on the implementation of the PTC based on the draft guidance the U.S. Treasury Department released at the end of 2023,” he added. 

Now that the Georgia facility is online, the company is looking at building out a green hydrogen network of production plants across the U.S. and has made substantial progress on other U.S.-based plants, including plants in Louisiana, New York, and Texas, Marsh said. 

“All these plants in development will benefit from our experience building the plant in Georgia,” he said. 

At the same time, Marsh noted, government policy support is essential for the hydrogen industry to scale and achieve cost parity with other energy sources. 

“Policymaker guidance on incentives aimed at fostering the clean hydrogen industry must be clear and pragmatic in achieving these aims,” he said. 

Numerous concerns about federally funded hydrogen hubs add up to “a lot of bad news,” said Abbe Ramanan, a project director with Clean Energy Group, on a webinar with energy research group IEEFA and the Pipeline Safety Trust.

The hydrogen hubs are intended to pair large-scale clean hydrogen production with industrial and other end-uses for hydrogen. Yet most of the hydrogen hubs to be funded by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) will produce “blue” hydrogen, Ramanan said.

Blue hydrogen involves fossil fuel combustion and is “not clean or low-carbon,” said Anika Juhn, an analyst with research group IEEFA. A report from the group says blue hydrogen “will be very dirty.”

“Green” hydrogen, made from electrolysis of water powered by renewables, has been seen as an option for multi-day or seasonal storage of renewable energy—for example, where salt caverns can be created to store hydrogen on-site. Research group Energy Innovation last year projected that green hydrogen production could be profitable in “wide swaths” of the U.S., mostly in the central U.S.

The seven hydrogen hubs selected for federal support are now engaged in an award negotiation process. Yet even though DOE committed, Ramanan said, to “heavily weigh community benefit plans and community engagement” in the negotiation process, Clean Energy Group has heard from “a lot” of community groups that have been unable to learn how to engage with the hubs, what hydrogen projects will be involved in each hub, or how those projects will impact and possibly benefit their communities.

No matter how hydrogen is produced, transporting it in pipelines presents risk, said Amanda McKay, policy manager with the Pipeline Safety Trust. Small hydrogen molecules interact with steel and certain polyethylene pipes, she said, leading to embrittlement and cracking. She said that a hydrogen pipeline is “more likely to explode” than methane pipelines. McKay began her presentation with a tragic story of a gasoline pipeline leak and fireball in Washington State that claimed the lives of three boys.

Regarding proposals to mix a small portion of hydrogen with methane, McKay said that because hydrogen has less energy content than methane per unit of volume, mixing 10% hydrogen with 90% methane reduces combustion CO2 emissions by only 3%. Moreover, hydrogen is an indirect greenhouse gas, she said.

The seven hydrogen hubs selected by DOE for $7 billion in awards would also receive federal tax incentives estimated by Clean Energy Group at $70 billion in over ten years, consisting of hydrogen production incentives for all projects and carbon capture incentives for blue hydrogen production.

Carbon capture incentives are key to the economics of blue hydrogen projects, said IEEFA’s Anika Juhn, yet federal incentives will not lead to a high rate of carbon capture. She described a project in Louisiana to produce hydrogen from coal gasification that is set to receive $425 million per year in carbon capture credits, while capturing only 64% of the associated lifetime CO2-equivalent emissions.

Juhn critiqued the GREET model used by DOE to project a hydrogen project’s carbon emissions, challenging four assumptions used in the model.

David Schlissel, an analyst at IEEFA, said “there’s not enough demand” for the hydrogen to be produced by “these projects that we’re going to pay to build.” He forecasted potential markets for hydrogen for ammonia production and iron production, but not for transportation or home heating.

Schlissel and Suzanne Mattei, also an IEEFA analyst, wrote in an op-ed last fall that “full funding of these projects is not yet guaranteed. DOE will now enter into negotiations with the selected project sponsors about funding, which will be allocated in four decision-making phases.”

The U.S. Department of the Treasury and Internal Revenue Service (IRS) released proposed regulations on the Clean Hydrogen Production Credit established by the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA).

“Hydrogen has the potential to clean up America’s manufacturing industry, power the transportation sector and shore up our energy security all while delivering good-paying jobs and new economic opportunity to communities in every pocket of America, “ said U.S. Secretary of Energy Jennifer M. Granholm.

Conventional hydrogen production typically results in significant climate pollution, which is why the Clean Hydrogen Production Credit is focused making hydrogen production with minimal pollution more economically competitive. The proposed regulations have safeguards to prevent the credit from subsidizing hydrogen production with higher lifecycle greenhouse gas emissions than allowed by the statute.

The Treasury Department’s Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) was developed after consultations with experts across the federal government, particularly the Department of Energy (DOE), which oversees Argonne National Lab’s administration of the Greenhouse Gases, Regulated Emissions, and Energy Use in Transportation (GREET) model, and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), which administers the Clean Air Act.

The GREET model is tool that examines the life-cycle impacts of vehicle technologies, fuels, products, and energy systems, providing  a transparent platform through which energy and environmental effects of vehicle technologies and energy and product systems can be evaluated. For any given energy and vehicle system, the DOE reports that GREET can calculate total energy consumption (non-renewable and renewable), emissions of air pollutants, emissions of greenhouse gases, and water consumption.

The proposed regulations provide guidance based on the statute’s references to the Clean Air Act and the GREET model.

Four credit tiers

The IRA proposal establishes a Clean Hydrogen Production Credit with four technology-neutral credit tiers based on the emissions rate of a hydrogen production process. By meeting prevailing wage and registered apprenticeship requirements, the amount of the credit ranges from $.60 per kilogram (kg) of hydrogen produced to $3 per kg of hydrogen, depending on the lifecycle emissions of the hydrogen production.

Credit eligibility is to be determined under the Clean Air Act’s definition of lifecycle greenhouse gas emissions, including significant indirect emissions, through the point of production. The statute also requires that lifecycle greenhouse gas emissions be determined under the most recent GREET model. The credit is available for 10 years starting on the date that a hydrogen production facility is placed into service for projects that begin construction before 2033, meaning it will remain available for some facilities into the 2040s.

The NPRM is technology-neutral and describes how taxpayers must use the 45VH2-GREET model developed by Argonne National Laboratory to determine lifecycle greenhouse gas emissions. The statute also requires that to claim the credit, a taxpayer must have production and sale, or use of clean hydrogen verified by a qualified, unrelated third party. For taxpayers unable to use the 45VH2-GREET model because their hydrogen production technology and/or feedstock is not included, those taxpayers may petition the Secretary of the Treasury for a provisional emissions rate analogous to the lifecycle greenhouse gas emissions rate calculated using 45VH2-GREET.

Energy attribute certificates

The Treasury Department’s proposed rules describe how taxpayers may use energy attribute certificates (EACs), which demonstrate the purchase of clean power, to assess and document qualification for a particular credit tier. The proposed rules explain the three criteria that must be reflected in EACs being purchased by hydrogen producers claiming the tax credit:

• New clean power (Incrementality): Clean power generators that began commercial operations within three years of a hydrogen facility being placed into service are considered new sources of clean power. Generation resulting from a generator’s newly added capacity (uprates) are also considered new sources of clean power. The proposed rules also request comments on approaches by which generation from existing clean power generators could be considered to meet the requirements for new clean power under certain circumstances.
• Deliverable clean power: Clean power must be sourced from the same region as the hydrogen producer, as derived from DOE’s 2023 National Transmission Needs Study. The proposed rules also request comment on how to consider transmission of clean power between regions.
• New, deliverable clean power generated annually, with a phase-in to hourly generation (time-matching): EACs will generally need to be matched to production on an hourly basis. The claimed generation must occur within the same hour that the electrolyzer claiming the credit is operating. The proposed rules include a transition to allow annual matching until 2028 when hourly tracking systems are expected to be more widely available and seeks comment on this transition timeline.

Hydrogen produced with renewable natural gas

The proposed rules detail eligibility requirements for hydrogen production from landfill gas in certain circumstances. Treasury and IRS anticipate finalizing rules in which additional hydrogen production pathways using renewable natural gas (RNG) and fugitive methane, such as coal mine or coal bed methane, qualify and are seeking public comment on conditions for qualification while adhering to the standards in the statute.

Many in the industry have long been awaiting release of the 45V guidance, including the American Council on Renewable Energy (ACORE). Ray Long, President and CEO of ACORE said his group is concerned that the proposed rule isn’t flexible enough and may not have the effect of jump-starting a hydrogen industry at scale.

“As our analysis with E3 [energy and environmental economics] demonstrated, an annual match accounting approach could help unleash America’s nascent clean hydrogen industry and accelerate our energy transition,” said Long. “ACORE will continue to work with the Administration throughout this comment period, and we remain hopeful the final rule ultimately released has the needed flexibility to support the scale and role that hydrogen can play in achieving our decarbonization goals.”

The NPRM also takes comment on important issues where Treasury anticipates providing further clarity and certainty in the final rules.  The NPRM will be open for public comment for 60 days once it is published in the Federal Register, and Treasury and the IRS will carefully consider comments before issuing final rules.

Trends in the hydrogen sector in 2023  The industry had policy support, including funding for regional clean hydrogen hubs, and some interesting project announcements this year.

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Cadmium Telluride Accelerator awardees to receive $1.8 million in contracts The awards will enable the seven research groups to develop cheaper, more efficient and scalable solutions to thin film solar cells made from domestic raw materials.

Who’s on top of the residential solar-plus-storage market? Wood Mackenzie’s new leaderboard ranks battery manufacturers and solar-plus-storage installers. Recent findings show that three companies have held 80% of the market since 2018, but that tide is turning as new providers enter the growing market.

Waaree Energies to build 5 GW solar cell, module factory in U.S.  India’s Waaree Energies says it will build a solar module manufacturing facility with an initial capacity of 3 GW per year by December 2024. It plans to ramp up to an integrated 5 GW cell facility by 2027 and has already secured an offtake contract with SB Energy.

Solar manufacturers unite to develop 700 W+ module standards Solar module size standardization will enhance supply chain efficiencies, boost production, and lower costs, according to the 700W+ Photovoltaic Open Innovation Ecological Alliance, thus accelerating the industrialization of 700 W or greater modules.

The green hydrogen industry in the U.S. saw some strong policy support and a flurry of project announcements this year, as policy-makers and the energy industry eye the resource’s potential to provide long-duration energy storage to the power grid, as well as help decarbonize industries that would otherwise be hard to tackle.

A June report from the Deloitte Center for Sustainable Progress, which looked at the potential of green hydrogen to meet the demands of heavy industry, identified global market milestones of $642 billion by 2030, $980 billion by 2040, and $1.4 trillion by 2050.

Policy support for clean hydrogen 

2023 saw a lot of federal policy support for clean hydrogen technologies. In June, the Biden-Harris Administration put out a national clean hydrogen strategy and roadmap, outlining opportunities for the U.S. to domestically produce 10 million metric tonnes (MMT) of clean hydrogen annually by the end of the decade, 20 MMT annually by 2040, and 50 MMT annually by 2050.

The administration also created an inter-agency hydrogen task force – co-chaired by Mary Frances Repko, White House deputy national climate advisor, and David Turk, deputy secretary of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) – to deploy a more holistic, “whole of government approach” to clean hydrogen across the administration. 

And in October, the DOE announced funding of $7 billion to launch seven regional clean hydrogen hubs around the country, each aimed at more broadly supporting the commercial-scale deployment of the resource. The funding for the hubs comes from the 2021 Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. All seven hubs are estimated to produce a joint three million metric tons of hydrogen each year, and slash 25 million metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions every year.

Plans for hydrogen projects

This year also saw some interesting hydrogen project announcements. In October, for instance, Duke Energy announced plans to break ground on the first U.S. demonstration project with an end-to-end green hydrogen production, storage and combustion system, located at its 74.5 MW DeBary solar plant in Florida. The facility – expected to be operational in 2024 – will pull energy from the solar plant and run it through two 1 MW electrolyzer systems to produce hydrogen, which will then be stored until needed. At that time, the hydrogen will be passed through a combustion turbine to create electricity. 

Hydrogen company H2B2 Electrolysis Technologies, meanwhile, is working on its Fresno, California-based SoHyCal project. The project is currently in its first phase, producing up to a ton of hydrogen every day using biogas. In its second phase – expected to begin in the second quarter of 2024 – it will begin using solar energy from a nearby photovoltaic plant, as well as biogas, and ramp up production to up to three tons of hydrogen per day. 

Ramping up electrolyzer manufacturing capacity 

Another focus for the industry this year has been ramping up the manufacturing capacity of electrolyzers, an essential component to producing hydrogen from renewable energy. Experts say most electrolyzer production is currently outsourced to overseas manufacturers, and one of the chief challenges to ramping up domestic manufacturing capacity is accessing capital to build the necessary infrastructure. 

However, some companies are looking to change this dynamic. Verdagy, for instance, announced in September that it is opening a new facility to manufacture advanced water electrolyzers in large volumes in Newark, California. The new plant is slated to begin operations in the first quarter of 2024. 

And Electric Hydrogen – which manufactures 100 MW electrolyzer systems that can each produce nearly 50 tons of green hydrogen daily – completed an oversubscribed $380 million Series C financing this year, bringing the total funding it has raised since its launch three years ago to $600 million.

Cost and scaling obstacles 

But the hydrogen industry still has a way to go. Some analysts, for instance, have raised concerns that the Biden-Harris Administration’s ambitious clean hydrogen goals will require addressing some cost and scaling obstacles. 

Hydrogen produced from fossil fuels currently costs around half of what clean hydrogen does – between $1/kg and $2/kg, compared to $3/kg to $6/kg – and the industry is likely to need continued financing, including through subsidies, to scale up significantly, some say.

Some environmental stakeholders, meanwhile, continue to raise concerns about hydrogen’s role in the clean energy transition. This summer, for instance, a coalition of more than 180 organizations – including conservation, social justice and Indigenous groups – penned a letter to the Biden administration urging it to reject the applications for regional clean hydrogen hubs. 

The groups noted that some 95% of hydrogen produced currently is derived from fossil fuels, and contended that hydrogen infrastructure build-out could lead to additional greenhouse gas emissions, as well as pollution.

Unprecedented solar and storage growth on horizon with record installations and investments  The Inflation Reduction Act and Bipartisan Infrastructure Law mark an epochal shift in the landscape of clean energy policy, heralding a new era for the solar and energy storage sectors in the U.S.

Adapture Renewables acquires 450 MW solar portfolio in MISO region The developer, owner and operator of solar and energy storage assets announced the acquisition of three projects.

Enphase launches three-phase inverter  The residential microinverter manufacturer released a 208V three phase inverter for the small commercial market. The advancing hardware comes with a specialized support team, expedited one-day financing options, and tailored design tools – optimized for efficiently handling systems up to 200kW.

SMA to build 3.5 GW inverter factory in U.S.  SMA Solar Technology AG says it will open a new 3.5 GW inverter factory at an unspecified location in the United States in 2025. The German manufacturer is currently talking with several U.S. states and potential partners to select the best production site.

Fostering a mindset of innovation and inclusivity for the renewable energy future Ensuring equitable access means guaranteeing that the benefits of the energy transition are not exclusive to privileged countries but are extended to every individual and community, allowing them to benefit from cleaner energy sources.

People on the move: Array Technologies, Baker Botts, Key Capture and more  Job moves in solar, storage, cleantech, utilities and energy transition finance.

Canadian startup unveils residential air source heat pump for cold climates Terravis Energy said its heat pump prototype uses difluoromethane (R32) as the refrigerant and has a seasonal coefficient of performance (SCOP) of approximately 3.0 under Ontario’s environmental conditions.

Could blue hydrogen offer a ‘pragmatic transition’ to green hydrogen? Blue hydrogen is a form of the resource produced from fossil fuels, where the carbon dioxide is then captured and stored.

Community solar developer commits $5 million to train 1,500 workers Dimension Renewable Energy committed funds for a solar installation workforce development program. The company also activated a portfolio of New Jersey solar projects.

Portable off-grid solar provides electricity, water filtration and hot water A device from Power Panel offers critical utilities for humanitarian needs and off-grid living.

Blue hydrogen – a form of the resource produced from fossil fuels, where the carbon dioxide is then captured and stored – could provide a “pragmatic transition” to green hydrogen, and offers an unsubsidized levelized cost that is two to three times lower than that of green hydrogen, but with elevated emissions intensities, according to a new report from Enverus Intelligence Research.

Most hydrogen today is made using fossil fuels, the bulk of which use steam methane reformers, Alex Nevokshonoff, senior associate at Enverus Intelligence Research, told pv magazine USA. This process essentially reacts steam with methane to produce hydrogen, carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide. The hydrogen is termed “blue hydrogen” if the carbon dioxide molecules are then captured and stored, Nevokshonoff said. 

“Although more carbon intensive than green hydrogen production, blue hydrogen projects provide a practical and economical pathway to clean hydrogen adoption,” Nevokshonoff said.

Clean hydrogen could play an important role in decarbonizing the U.S. energy system, as well industrial, chemical and heavy transportation sectors. Hydrogen can also be created by using excess renewable energy, like solar, to run electrolyzers. In August, the Biden-Harris Administration created an inter-agency hydrogen task force to create a “whole of government” approach to deploying the resource. But ramping up the clean hydrogen economy will also depend in part on reducing the levelized cost of solar energy, some experts say. 

Blue hydrogen technologies can currently tap into multiple incentives in the U.S. The 45V production tax credit offers $0.60/kg and $3/kg for hydrogen produced with a carbon intensity lower then 4.0 kgCO2e/kgH2, Nevokshonoff said, while the 48 investment tax credit offers between 6% and 30% of the capital spend for hydrogen projects that produce hydrogen with a carbon intensity lower than 4.0 kgCO2e/kgH2. There’s also the 45Q carbon capture, utilization and storage tax credit, that offers carbon dioxide emitters $85 for every tonne of CO2 that is captured and sequestered.

However, ramping up the production of blue hydrogen in the U.S. will face some challenges, including managing opposing public sentiment toward carbon capture technologies and using fossil fuels to produce hydrogen, as well as determining appropriate use cases for hydrogen where other alternatives, like electrification, are not more appropriate, he said. 

“Securing long-term offtake contracts, which are essential to reaching final investment decision on projects,” will also be a challenge, Nevokshonoff said, as will ensuring the appropriate infrastructure to transport carbon dioxide and hydrogen. 

But some stakeholders remain skeptical of blue hydrogen. In September, the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis issued a report that concluded the U.S. government could be significantly understating the global warming impact of producing hydrogen from fossil fuels. The authors took a closer look at the carbon intensity of blue hydrogen – defined as being produced from natural gas or coal, both of which contain methane – and studied its potential methane emission rates, leakage, as well as the effectiveness of carbon capture technologies. It eventually determined that producing hydrogen from natural gas is not a low-carbon solution. 

Plug Power, a company that is building an end-to-end green hydrogen ecosystem, saw its stock fall more than 30% on the Nasdaq on Friday, following its report stating that its 2023 financial performance was negatively affected by unprecedented supply challenges in the North American hydrogen network, despite a more than threefold increase in electrolyzer sales.

The New York-based company said it will seek additional capital to fund its activities, expressing confidence that the hydrogen supply issue is temporary, expecting full capacity production at its Georgia and Tennessee facilities by year end.

Green hydrogen reportedly has a bright future. According to a report from the Deloitte Center for Sustainable Progress (DCSP) the hydrogen fuel produced by renewable energy sources set global market milestones of $642 billion by 2030, $980 billion by 2040, and $1.4 trillion by 2050, with growth in the industry split among the major global economies relatively evenly by mid-century. 

Hard-to-abate sectors like steelmaking, chemical manufacturing, aviation and global shipping require high amounts of energy dispatch, something that can be difficult for electrochemical batteries to achieve. While batteries may serve mobile devices, electric vehicles, and grid-scale energy storage, hydrogen may present a viable path forward for decarbonizing these high-dispatch use cases.

The report said that these sectors may drive hydrogen demand and use six-fold by 2050, leading to nearly 600 million tons of hydrogen fuel use. While hydrogen electrolysis requires large amounts of electricity, the only byproduct of burning hydrogen fuel is water, making it an emissions-free source when created by renewable sources.

Read more about Deloitte’s report here.

The quiet shift from central to string inverters in utility-scale solar  Central inverters still dominate the U.S. utility solar market but string inverters are beginning to get more traction in 10+ MW projects.  

U.S., China dominate solar investment China and the United States consistently attract the most annual solar investments. Together, they have received about 50% of all solar investments since 2015, according to a new report by the International Solar Alliance.

Green hydrogen solutions provider H2B2 Electrolysis Technologies is working on the largest operational green hydrogen production plant to date in North America, which will be powered entirely by renewable energy.

The project – called SoHyCal – is located in Fresno, California, and is currently fully operational in its first phase, in which it is producing up to one ton of hydrogen per day using biogas and electrolysis technology. 

In its second phase, it will transition to also using solar energy from a nearby photovoltaic plant, and is expected to scale up to producing up to three tons of hydrogen per day – enough to power 210,000 cars or 30,000 city buses every year. It will also continue using biogas to produce hydrogen in this phase. The facility is expected to get to this point by the second quarter of 2024. 

Both the biogas and solar energy sources are adjacent to the site, and directly connected to it, Pedro Pajares, CEO of H2B2 USA, told pv magazine USA. SoHyCal is a behind-the-meter facility.

In May, H2B2 announced that it had entered into an agreement with RMG Acquisition Corp. III,  a special purpose acquisition company, to take the former public. H2B2 was founded in 2016, and while most of its presence is in the U.S. and Europe, it is also expanding in the Latin America and Asia-Pacific regions. 

The green hydrogen market is viewed as having significant potential, according to the company, and forecasts indicate it could reach a value of $10 trillion by the end of the decade. The industry’s growth will come from various sectors, including industrial use, transportation, and power generation, the company said. 

However, one of the challenges the industry faces is the correct development of infrastructure and financial models to support the hydrogen ecosystem, Pajares said. 

In terms of how policymakers could address these challenges, Pajares said they “are taking the right steps to develop both the market and the ecosystem. If any, I would add the legislative needs to keep listening to the private sector as a whole, from producers to consumers to infrastructure and supply chain.”

The Fresno facility has also received regulatory support, including in the form of a $3.96 million grant from the California Energy Commission’s clean transportation program. That funding has been key to getting the plant to its 1 ton-per-day of hydrogen production capacity, and the fuel is being used at hydrogen refueling stations in the San Joaquin Valley and the San Francisco Bay Area.

California regulators have also been providing funding to other players in the hydrogen market. In August, heavy-duty battery and fuel cell vehicle manufacturer Nikola announced it had received $58.2 million in grants from various regulatory agencies – including $41.9 million from the California Transportation Commission and $3.3 million from the California Energy Commission – to build a network of hydrogen refueling stations for heavy-duty trucks. 

Duke Energy is set to break ground on the country’s first demonstration project with an end-to-end system to produce, store and combust entirely green hydrogen.

The facility will be located at the utility’s DeBary solar plant in Volusia County, Florida, which currently has a 74.5 MW capacity.

Once completed, the clean energy from this facility will be routed to two 1 MW electrolyzer systems, which will split water into oxygen and green hydrogen. The hydrogen will then be transferred to reinforced containers, where it will be stored until needed. When electricity demand is especially high, the green hydrogen will be passed through a combustion turbine to convert it into power. 

The combustion turbine will be upgraded with technology from GE Vernova to run on either a blend of natural gas and hydrogen, or up to 100% hydrogen – the first turbine in the country that can get to such a high hydrogen percentage. The demonstration project will begin construction later this year and is expected to be fully operational sometime in 2024. 

Green hydrogen can play a key role in ensuring the reliability of a highly-renewable electric grid, since it serves as a “dispatchable” energy source that is available on demand. Unlike solar and wind power, it is not dependent on the time of day or weather. Moreover, using solar energy to create green hydrogen can optimize the solar plants, according to Duke Energy. 

“Relying on intermittent energy sources without available dispatchable energy sources would put our future electric system at risk of having insufficient energy to serve customer demand,” the utility said. 

Duke Energy is aiming to reduce its carbon emissions from electricity generation by 50% by 2030, and achieve net-zero emissions by the middle of the century. As part of this, it is looking to decrease its use of coal to less than 5% of total generation by 2030, and phase out the fossil fuel entirely by 2035. 

The utility anticipates that hydrogen could play a major role in its clean energy future, said Regis Repko, Duke Energy’s senior vice president of generation and transmission strategy.

“Hydrogen has significant potential for decarbonization across all sectors of the U.S. economy. It is a clean energy also capable of long-duration storage, which would help Duke Energy ensure grid reliability as we continue adding more renewable energy sources to our system,” Repko said. 

While adding hydrogen facilities can help optimize solar plants, some industry players say that driving down solar’s levelized cost of energy – below $20 a megawatt hour – can also spur the adoption of solar for green hydrogen production. 

In fact, producing green hydrogen itself can be profitable in “wide swaths of the U.S.,” a report from policy consultancy Energy Innovation found – regions where the cost of electricity from new wind and solar averages less than $25 per MWh. And as the capital costs of electrolyzers decline, green hydrogen projects are likely to become economic in more areas. 

Redwood Materials debuts a digital pricing tool to streamline electric vehicle battery recycling  Redwood Materials purchases hybrid and electric vehicle lithium-ion or nickel-metal hydride battery packs to process and reintroduce anode and cathode materials into the domestic market.  

Suniva announces IRA-driven manufacturing, undermining the value of solar tariffs  Six years after petitioning the U.S. government for tariffs to make its products more competitive, U.S.-based Suniva has revealed plans to commence 1 GW of cell manufacturing by spring 2024, followed by an additional 2.5 GW expansion.

DOE announces $7 billion to kick off seven regional clean hydrogen hubs  The hubs are collectively expected to produce three million metric tons of hydrogen each year; however, some stakeholders shared their skepticism.

Accelerating large-scale solar development while minimizing land use impact  Historic land use agreement unites developers, environmental organizations and local interest groups, and is the result of a 20-month Solar Uncommon Dialogue convened by Stanford’s Woods Institute for the Environment, the Solar Energy Industries Association, and The Nature Conservancy.

Corporate investment in climate tech is about more than dollars​​​​​​  Energy companies should look for investments that help them break into new markets, new segments of the value chain, or help to future-proof existing assets so that the risk-profile and shareholders’ tolerance for returns ​do​ not have to be the same as their core businesses.

Solar power generation soars in Mexico, southwestern U.S.  In a new weekly update for pv magazine, Solcast, a DNV company, reports that areas across Mexico and Southern Texas saw reduced cloud, leading to 120-130% of average September irradiance.

Solar advocates appeal North Carolina net metering cuts  Payment cuts to rooftop solar generation exports were in violation of state law, said the appeal.

Bslbatt introduces high-voltage battery for residential PV  China’s Bslbatt says its new batteries feature individual battery modules with voltages of 102.4 V and a capacity of 52 Ah. They can be stacked in series with two to seven battery modules.

Global solar industry corporate funding grows 55% year-over-year Through the first nine months of 2023, $28.9 billion of venture capital, public market, and debt financing was injected into solar, said a report from Mercom Capital Group.

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has announced $7 billion to kick off seven regional clean hydrogen hubs in the U.S., with the broader aim of supporting the commercial-scale deployment of clean hydrogen in the country. 

The seven hubs are funded by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, passed in 2021, and will, according to the DOE “kickstart a national network of clean hydrogen producers, consumers, and connective infrastructure while supporting the production, storage, delivery, and end-use of clean hydrogen.” They are collectively expected to produce three million metric tons of hydrogen each year, and reduce around 25 million metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions annually. 

Projects that were selected for negotiation include the Appalachian Hydrogen Hub, California Hydrogen Hub, Gulf Coast Hydrogen Hub, Heartland Hydrogen Hub, Mid-Atlantic Hydrogen Hub, Midwest Hydrogen Hub and the Pacific Northwest Hydrogen Hub. However, these selections don’t represent a commitment of funding from the DOE; the agency will now go through a negotiations process with the applicants. The H2Hubs program is managed by the DOE’s Office of Clean Energy Demonstrations.  

“Unlocking the full potential of hydrogen—a versatile fuel that can be made from almost any energy resource in virtually every part of the country—is crucial to achieving President Biden’s goal of American industry powered by American clean energy, ensuring less volatility and more affordable energy options for American families and businesses,” said Jennifer Granholm, U.S. Secretary of Energy.   

Clean hydrogen has emerged as an important priority for the Biden-Harris Administration, in part due to its potential in industries that would otherwise be hard to decarbonize, including heavy-duty transportation. The administration is looking at domestically producing 10 million metric tonnes (MMT) of clean hydrogen annually by 2030, ramping up to 20 MMT annually by 2040 and 50 MMT annually by 2050. 

The DOE’s announcement is a critical first step in decarbonizing existing carbon-intensive hydrogen applications such as ammonia production for fertilizers and petrochemicals refining and in decarbonizing new applications of hydrogen in hard-to-abate sectors, including heavy-duty trucking, shipping, and aviation, said Anna Menke, senior hydrogen hubs manager at the Clean Air Task Force. 

It is also a “major step forward for the hydrogen economy here in the United States,” said Frank Wolak, president and CEO of the Fuel Cell and Hydrogen Energy Association.

“Engagement by state and local leaders in communities across the country, matched with significant private investment, will develop the hydrogen economy so consumers, businesses and communities can decarbonize many of the most difficult heavy-using energy sectors like heavy-duty and long-haul transportation, cement, aluminum and steel, all-the-while providing important, good-paying clean energy jobs,” Wolak added. 

However, some stakeholders remain skeptical. 

“Throwing billions at hydrogen hubs deepens our dependence on fossil fuels and worsens the climate emergency,” said Maggie Coulter, an attorney at the Center for Biological Diversity’s Climate Law Institute. 

“President Biden should be urgently investing in proven and increasingly affordable solar and wind energy. It’s wasteful and misguided to fund false solutions like hydrogen that only further burden frontline communities,” Coulter added. 

Electrolyzer manufacturer Electric Hydrogen has completed an oversubscribed $380 million Series C financing, bringing the company new capital to ramp up the manufacturing and deployment of green hydrogen systems.

The funding round was led by several companies, including Fortescue, Fifth Wall and Energy Impact Partners, and also included new investors like bp Ventures and Oman Investment Authority.

The company manufactures 100 MW electrolyzer systems, each of which it says can produce almost 50 tons of green hydrogen each day, at low costs. In total, it has raised more than $600 million since it was founded three years ago. 

Hydrogen produced from clean sources could play a key role in decarbonizing the U.S., especially when it comes to “hard-to-decarbonize” sectors – for instance, heavy transportation, as well as industrial and chemical processes. 

It has also emerged as a key priority for the Biden-Harris Administration. In June, the administration issued a national clean hydrogen strategy and roadmap, charting a pathway to domestically produce 10 million metric tonnes (MMT) of clean hydrogen annually by the end of the decade, 20 MMT annually by 2040, and 50 MMT annually by 2050. In addition, the administration plans to invest $8 billion in building regional hydrogen hubs.

This August, the administration also launched an inter-agency task force to create a  “whole of government” approach to clean hydrogen. The task force will be co-chaired by Mary Frances Repko, White House deputy national climate advisor and David Turk, deputy secretary of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE). 

Some experts feel that the key to building out a green hydrogen economy is driving down the cost of solar electricity to produce that hydrogen. 

Electric Hydrogen’s electrolyzer technology is more efficient and lower cost, said Dave Eaglesham, the company’s chief technology officer.

“Now we’re scaling up rapidly to produce and assemble large electrolyzer systems for our industrial customers who are leading the shift from grey hydrogen to renewable green hydrogen,” he said. 

Electric Hydrogen is in the process of setting up manufacturing equipment in a 1.2 GW facility in Devens, Massachusetts. The factory is slated to begin manufacturing commercial electrolyzer systems early next year, and deliver them later in 2024. These deliveries include a system that will be installed at a New Fortress Energy green hydrogen project in Texas, which is scheduled to begin producing hydrogen in the fourth quarter of 2024, and reach full commercial operation in 2025. 

One of Electric Hydrogen’s lead investors and possible customers is Fortescue, a global metals and green energy company. 

“Fortescue is committed and focused on supporting the creation of green technology to help heavy industry decarbonize and producing green hydrogen at scale globally is integral to that,” said Mark Hutchinson, Fortescue Energy CEO. 

Clean chemistry company Mattiq is working on developing a portfolio of alternatives to iridium – a rare, costly material used in clean hydrogen production – in what the company calls the most comprehensive, systematic study of iridium alternatives ever conducted. 

Iridium oxide catalysts are used in proton exchange membrane water electrolyzers, a product that is being manufactured at larger scales in part to support the hydrogen industry. However, iridium is rare to find and very expensive — the current production of the material will only be enough for annual manufacturing capacity of around 3 GW to 7.5 GW of electrolyzers, according to the International Renewable Energy Agency. In contrast, forecasts indicate demand for 100 GW by the end of the decade. 

“Deploying alternatives to iridium oxide is essential to support this rapid growth, reducing supply chain risk and accelerating the scaling of clean hydrogen, an essential enabler in the effort to decarbonize hard-to-abate industrial sectors,” the company said. 

The company has to keep the specific alternative materials confidential to protect its intellectual property, but in general, the alternative catalysts are mixtures of metals that, by virtue of “alloying,” take on new properties compared to individual metals, Mattiq CEO Jeff Erhardt told pv magazine USA.

“As a result, we reduce or eliminate iridium content while retaining the performance of state-of-the-art iridium-based catalysts,” Erhardt said. 

The company expects to announce a commercial partnership within the first half of 2024. Mattiq is also in discussions with a number of industrial partners to commercialize and rapidly scale these products to market, and has seen a lot of interest so far, Erhardt said. 

However, the industry still faces some challenges in terms of ramping up the deployment of these iridium alternatives. One key challenge is the standardization of reliability testing for electrocatalyst materials, Erhardt said. 

The reason iridium catalysts are state-of-the-art is because they are durable and reliable over long periods of times in electrolyzers, and electrolyzer OEMs who want to integrate novel iridium alternatives into their equipment will first need to evaluate them under standardized testing conditions against the state-of-the-art catalysts they use now, he added. 

There are certain measures policy makers can take to help address these challenges. For instance, they could support third-party testing facilities, like national laboratories, that validate the performance of novel catalyst materials using best-practice protocols accepted by industry, Erhardt said. They could also continue supporting novel technologies across the development chain. 

Most importantly, he said, while hydrogen is currently garnering a lot of attention, policy-makers need to understand that electrolyzers and electrochemistry can do much more than produce hydrogen.

“We are working to enable the clean production of a vast range of chemicals, plastics, and fuels beyond hydrogen – and do so in a clean way. This is what will enable us to decarbonize the “hard-to-abate” chemicals industry,” said Erhardt. 

Water electrolysis technology company Verdagy is planning to open a new facility in Newark, California, which will be the first in the U.S. to manufacture advanced water electrolyzers in large volumes.

The facility will have more than 100,000 square feet of advanced manufacturing space, and the company plans to double its employees by next summer to manage the expansion and operation of the new plant. The facility is expected to come into operation in the first quarter of 2024. 

Verdagy caters to customers in heavy industries, like chemicals, ammonia and fertilizer, and steel; sectors that green hydrogen can play a key role in decarbonizing. The company says it is focusing on advanced manufacturing, cost reductions and product innovation that puts it on the pathway to the U.S. Department of Energy’s goal of hitting $2/kg levelized cost of hydrogen by 2026.

The U.S. needs to accelerate domestic production of electrolyzers as most of the production is outsourced from overseas manufacturers, Verdagy CEO Marty Neese told pv magazine USA. 

“If we enable domestic manufacturing of electrolyzers, it will also accelerate innovation that will have cascading effects on the overall cost and production capacity, enabling domestic manufacturing to become global leaders in the hydrogen industry,” Neese added. 

The new Silicon Valley manufacturing facility will accelerate the production and cost reduction of its 20 MW electrolyzer module, which is the basic building block for delivering larger, gigawatt-scale plants, according to Neese. 

Verdagy’s plans to expand its manufacturing capacity in California is set against the broader backdrop of the state’s hydrogen ambitions. California is focused on building an entire renewable hydrogen ecosystem to achieve its climate goasl, and that includes manufacturing electrolyzers, Dee Dee Myers, senior advisor to California Gov. Gavin Newsom, and director of the Governor’s Office of Business and Economic Development, said.

“Verdagy’s decision to expand their footprint here reflects California’s unique strength in creating new markets, enabling the creation of clean energy jobs while solving our most existential challenges with the technology of the future,” Myers said. 

One of the key challenges to ramping up domestic electrolyzer manufacturing capacity is access to capital to build out the needed infrastructure, Neese said. Policy-makers are already looking at ways to address these challenges. The DOE, as part of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, is encouraging companies like Verdagy to expand the U.S. supply chain for green hydrogen electrolyzer manufacturing, Neese added. 

In August, Governor Newsom instructed his Office of Business and Economic Development to develop a hydrogen market development strategy for California, which is expected to mirror the state’s zero-emission vehicle market development strategy. Clean hydrogen is likely to be a key component of achieving California’s climate goals, and the state is competing to be a federally-funded hydrogen hub under an $8 billion program that stems from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.

The new strategy will focus on using hydrogen to deploy clean energy and decarbonize the transportation and industrial sectors, and will be developed with input from agencies like the California Air Resources Board, the California Energy Commission, and the California Public Utilities Commission.

The U.S. government could be significantly understating the global warming impact of producing hydrogen from fossil fuels, according to a new report from the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA).

The report takes a closer look at blue hydrogen – which can be produced from natural gas or coal, both of which contain methane – and its authors analyzed the carbon intensity of the fuel, looking at potential methane emission rates, leakage, as well as the effectiveness of carbon capture technologies. 

“The findings in the current report are clear – producing hydrogen from natural gas is not clean, not low-carbon, and cannot and should not be considered a solution in our efforts to solve the world’s worsening climate change crisis,” said David Schlissel, director of resource planning analysis at IEEFA  and co-author of the report.

The 2021 Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act have promised billions of dollars to establish hydrogen hubs around the country, and give production tax credits to the production of hydrogen as well as carbon capture and sequestration, Schlissel said. 

“We decided it was important to look at whether in fact blue hydrogen is clean and if not, in what circumstances it would not be clean,” he added. 

This report is the first in a series that the organization is planning, which will include analyses of producing hydrogen from coal and renewable natural gas, Schlissel said. 

IEEFA’s report points to four ways it says the U.S. government is significantly understating the global warming impact of producing hydrogen from fossil fuels. First is the assumption that just 1% of the methane used to produce hydrogen will be emitted into the atmosphere between the well and production facility, which the authors say is far less than recent scientific analyses have indicated.

Second is the focus on the 100-year global warming potential of methane, which is actually much lower than its 20-year global warming potential, according to the report.

Methane has a very high 20-year global warming potential, which declines over time, Schlissel said. 

“If you only focus on the 100-year figures… the impacts of methane in hydrogen are significantly smaller and that leads to an undercounting of their impact on global warming in the short term,” he said. 

The third factor is that the government assumes hydrogen does not have any effect on climate change when it leaks into the atmosphere, according to the report. 

And the fourth is the reliance on “overly optimistic and unproven assumption that hydrogen production projects will be able to capture almost all of the carbon dioxide they create.” 

In the case of hydrogen, the DOE has mandated a well-to-gate lifecycle analysis of emissions, which for blue hydrogen includes upstream emissions related to the production and delivery of natural gas, as well as emissions related to the electricity generation for hydrogen production and carbon dioxide management, Anika Juhn, IEEFA analyst and co-author of the report, said.

However, except for some of the emissions related to the transport and storage of captured carbon dioxide, the life cycle analysis covers emissions only up to the back gate of the production facility, she said.

“As a result, the downstream emissions related to hydrogen are not included,” said Juhn. 

According to the report, if more conservative assumptions are used for carbon capture rates, downstream hydrogen leakage, and downstream carbon emissions from the production of electricity needed to compress, store and transport the hydrogen, “then blue hydrogen gets even dirtier, with a carbon intensity more than three times as much as the DOE’s clean hydrogen standard.”

Hydrogen stations could avoid unplanned shut-downs with predictive models, research finds  The NREL study focuses on a specific model that uses data to reduce the frequency of unscheduled maintenance, and increase the frequency of preventive maintenance.

Native American group recruits solar construction firms as tribal partners  Native American tribal lands represent substantial solar and wind potential, yet tribes face many challenges in deploying renewables. A tribal nonprofit group is recruiting solar builders to partner with tribes to help clear the hurdles.

DOE announces $10 million grant program for green building skills training  The Career Skills Training program will offer up to $10 million in grants, intended to address the limited qualified green building workforce across the country, and to support the implementation of national energy efficiency improvements sparked by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and the Inflation Reduction Act.

People on the move: Maxeon, SunTegra, LPL Solar and more  Job moves in solar, storage, cleantech, utilities and energy transition finance.

Gautam Solar introduces N-type TOPCon solar modules  The company released product lines for residential, commercial, and utility-scale applications for the U.S. market.

The top 10 states for residential solar  Informational site SolarReviews ranked the top markets for residential solar based on available tax credits, electricity prices, payback time, and more.

New research from the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) and Colorado State University (CSU) indicates that consumers could develop more confidence in switching to hydrogen-fueled vehicles if fueling station operators use predictive models that help them better plan for maintenance needs. 

According to the research, one of the key issues consumers of fuel cell electric vehicles could face is when hydrogen refueling stations shut down for unscheduled maintenance issues, and this could slow the adoption of these zero-emission vehicles. However, the authors pointed to a “prognostics health monitoring” model that they said could help hydrogen refueling stations avoid these shut downs. 

Motorists expect to be able to fuel their vehicles without any problems, and drivers of hydrogen-fueled cars should have the same experience, Jennifer Kurtz, lead author of the paper, said. Kurtz  leads NREL’s Energy Conversion and Storage Systems Center.

“This predictive model can let station operators know in advance when a problem might occur and minimize any disruptions that motorists might experience with hydrogen fueling,” Kurtz said. 

NREL is the DOE’s primary laboratory for research and development connected to renewable energy and energy efficiency. This latest paper was funded by the DOE’s Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Technologies Office.

The research focuses on a specific model called hydrogen station prognostics health monitoring, or H2S PHM, which uses data to reduce the frequency of unscheduled maintenance, and instead increase the frequency of preventive maintenance. The model looks at how many fills the refueling station has completed to figure out the probability that a component will continue working, and can also estimate the remaining useful life of each component, helping to lower maintenance costs. However, this model has its own limitations when looking at the reliability of a hydrogen station, since it cannot predict sudden failures caused by human error. 

One of the most common reasons that hydrogen refueling stations shut down without warning is due to issues with the dispenser system, which includes hoses and dispenser valves, according to the National Fuel Cell Technology Evaluation Center.

Hydrogen refueling stations are still relatively rare in the U.S. As of this year, there were 59 retail hydrogen refueling stations in the U.S., mostly in California, according to the DOE – compared to the 10,000 gasoline stations in the state. 

“With relatively few choices, motorists who rely on hydrogen must be confident their needed fuel is available. Station operators must make any necessary repairs to meet the demands of consumers, but they also must investigate the causes of any failures to avoid future problems,” NREL said. 

However, this could soon be changing. This year, fuel cell electric vehicle manufacturer Nikola Corporation received $58.2 million from different regulatory agencies to set up a hydrogen refueling station network for heavy-duty trucks. And last year, Daimler Truck North America, NextEra Energy Resources and BlackRock Renewable Power announced they had signed a memorandum of understanding to take a closer look at designing, installing and operating a charging network for medium- and heavy-duty battery electric vehicles as well as hydrogen fuel cell vehicles across the nation, with an initial investment of $650 million.

A coalition of more than 180 conservation, social justice, Indigenous and other organizations last week pushed the Biden Administration to reject applications to build out regional clean hydrogen hubs, warning that building out hydrogen infrastructure will lead to additional greenhouse gas emissions and pollution.

In the letter, the groups – which include the Center for Biological Diversity and Food and Water Watch – said that 95% of hydrogen produced today is from fossil fuels, and all forms of hydrogen production require large amounts of water. 

“To address the climate emergency, the United States must phase out oil and gas production by 2030, – yet nearly all hydrogen production is from fossil gas,” they wrote. 

Hydrogen advocates, however, pushed back against the letter, saying that the U.S. Congress has made a serious commitment to hydrogen hubs through its Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.

“The development of clean hydrogen worldwide is essential to achieve decarbonization, and the U.S. hydrogen hubs are a key step to achieving U.S. decarbonization and climate goals,” Frank Wolak, president and CEO of the Fuel Cell and Hydrogen Energy Association, told pv magazine USA. 

Building out the hydrogen market has been an area of priority for the Biden Administration. The resource is expected to be a critical tool to decarbonize sectors that would otherwise be hard to decarbonize, such as industrial and chemical processes and heavy-duty transportation. 

While the U.S. currently produces about 10 million metric tonnes (MMT) of hydrogen per year, this largely comes from fossil fuels that aren’t paired with carbon capture technologies. The administration is aiming to produce that same amount of hydrogen entirely from clean energy sources by the end of the decade, and is looking to invest $7 billion to create regional hydrogen hubs across the country. Earlier this month, the administration also launched an inter-agency hydrogen task force, to bolster its “whole of government” approach to the sector. 

But these investments have raised concerns among the groups behind the letter. Hydrogen hubs will require a massive buildout of pipelines, and even the slightest rupture could cause explosions, they wrote in the letter. Constructing these pipelines could disrupt ecosystems, and contaminate soil and water, they added. And even in the case of green hydrogen, produced with renewable energy, the amount of water required – 5000 liters per megawatt-hour, according to the letter – would make it unsustainable, especially in areas affected by drought, they said. 

“Calling hydrogen clean energy is a scam to prop up the oil and gas industry,” Silas Grant, a campaigner at the Center for Biological Diversity, said. 

Hydrogen advocates disagree. Investments in hydrogen hubs will be a central driver in scaling the hydrogen economy and helping communities across the country benefit from clean energy investments, good-paying jobs and improved energy security, Kendall Stephenson, manager of policy at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s Global Energy Institute, told pv magazine USA.

“Not only would rejecting applications for these hubs completely disregard bipartisan Congressional direction, it would also deprive hard-to-abate sectors of adequate and affordable hydrogen supplies needed to decarbonize,” said Stephenson. 

“No serious stakeholder committed to net zero would take clean hydrogen off the table — it is just too important of a pathway,” she added. 

SunPower survey finds education is essential to scaling residential solar Fewer than 5% of domestic homes are solar-powered today, as consumers list cost and confusion about IRA benefits as primary deterrents to installing energy efficient appliances and solar panels at home.

Driving down cost of solar, key to unlocking a green hydrogen future Reducing the cost of solar electricity will be the key to unlocking the next chapter of the energy transition: a green hydrogen economy, according to Jim Tyler, CEO of solar technology company Erthos.

El Niño threatens U.S. winter solar generation In a new weekly update for pv magazine, Solcast, a DNV company, predicts that El Niño will likely bring lower than normal solar power production through winter in the United States. Its analysis is based on data collected from previous El Niño events.

Sunlight Financial struggles for survival In its recent quarterly earnings report, Sunlight Financial disclosed nearly $550 million in underwater residential solar loans, after which it executed a 20:1 reverse split to bolster their stock price, aiming to maintain it above $1/share to avert delisting.

Agrivoltaics may be one answer to solar buildout in Tennessee Researchers at the University of Tennessee found that operational and contracted utility-scale solar installations in the state will require up to nearly 15,000 acres of land. To meet Tennessee Valley Authority’s goal of adding 10 GW by 2035, another 100,000 acres of land will be needed.

Global additions of renewable power capacity are expected to jump by a third this year, according to the IEA. This is due to a combination of factors including the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), the war in Ukraine, and the technology adoption cost curve. Yet, we’ve only begun to tap solar’s immense potential. According to Jim Tyler, CEO of solar technology company Erthos, reducing the cost of solar electricity will be the key to unlocking the next chapter of the energy transition: a green hydrogen economy.

In a recent interview, Tyler explained how driving down solar’s levelized cost of energy (LCOE) can accelerate the adoption of solar for green hydrogen production. While the startling drop in solar panel prices (from $5/W in 2005 to around $0.25/W today) has fueled the industry’s growth, ongoing LCOE reductions remain imperative.

“You have to get to below $20 a megawatt hour,” said Tyler of the solar electricity price needed to produce competitive green hydrogen. “There are ways to do that. There are ways to get to below $20.” The 2023 LCOE report by Lazard put solar on parity with wind at $24/MWh.

Enter Erthos, founded by Tyler in 2019, which slashes costs through a novel “solar skin” design that eliminates racking and piles by placing panels directly on the ground. The technology is being embraced by developers like Industrial Sun, which announced a 100 MWac project using Erthos technology in Dec. 2022. This approach reduces steel usage by 35 tons per megawatt, halves installation time and real estate needs, and lowers O&M costs. The carbon footprint of steel manufacture is 1.4-1.65 tons of CO2e/ton of steel.

The flat to ground solar also reduces mechanical stress and microcracking on panels, boosting energy yield and project ROI according to a white paper by Erthos. What about periodic flooding of the solar array that flat mounted solar might encounter in the field, you ask? Tyler, who was VP of EPC for First Solar in a previous life, points to the intrinsic waterproof design of both solar panels and BOS that can withstand periodic flooding.

By streamlining the system, Erthos delivers an estimated 20% lower LCOE compared to single axis tracker based solar construction. While industry observers initially doubted putting panels on the ground, Erthos has now contracted over 200 megawatts of its revolutionary design. “It’s just a matter of time until all module providers recognize that and ultimately sign up to this technology,” said Tyler, noting 9 leading module manufacturers have already partnered with Erthos.

Others are pushing LCOE lower in different ways, like tracker manufacturer NexTracker introducing systems with fewer parts. But why does shaving cents off the cost of solar matter so much? Because it can make the difference in scaling up green hydrogen to displace fossil fuels.

“I’m a very firm believer that we are not going to electrify our way out of the [climate] problem,” stressed Tyler. “We have to solve the problem another way. We have to find a renewable replacement for fossil fuel.”

That replacement is hydrogen. Clean hydrogen produced by splitting water with renewable electricity offers a sustainable fuel for transportation, industry, and more. But historically high production costs have limited adoption.

“I’m 100% firm believer that hydrogen is that [fossil fuel] replacement. It’s just too expensive. That’s just the bottom line,” acknowledged Tyler.

The newly passed Inflation Reduction Act provides crucial support, including tax credits for clean hydrogen. However, driving down the single biggest cost component—the solar electricity input—is vital to make green hydrogen cost competitive at scale.

In fact, Tyler suggests one solution is taking solar off-grid altogether to avoid the years-long interconnection queues hindering larger grid-tied solar projects today. Ultra-low-cost off-grid solar plants dedicated to hydrogen production could accelerate the technology’s adoption.

“When you disconnect us from the grid [avoiding interconnection costs and delays], solar will grow even faster for several years,” Tyler predicted.

While challenges remain, from supply chain constraints to electrolyzer availability, the industry leaders driving solar innovation are confident the path is clear. “There are ways to get to below $20,” reiterated Tyler.

With solar progress unlocking the hydrogen opportunity, Tyler sees a bright future. “That’s the industry of the future. And when you do that, solar will grow like you wouldn’t believe.” The race is on to make cheap renewable hydrogen from cheap renewable electricity a reality.

When I first spoke to Tyler he provided additional context on Erthos’ disruptive technology and his storied career pioneering utility-scale solar. He first entered the industry in 2006, working on thin film solar manufacturing equipment. Seeing early solar farms under development, he joined OptiSolar in 2007 as they acquired land and interconnection queue positions to facilitate growth.

After building OptiSolar’s first Canadian project, Tyler moved to First Solar as VP of EPC. There he helped scale their technology as crystalline silicon advanced, before co-founding DEPCOM Power in 2014. DEPCOM grew into a top utility-scale EPC, giving Tyler immense experience with trackers. But after building over 8 gigawatts, he contemplated: what if module prices hit zero?

This sparked the idea for flat to ground mount solar. Tyler determined it made economic sense around 50 cents/W, as modules dropped below 30 cents/W. After verifying solar panels and BOS can survive on the ground, Tyler founded Erthos in 2019 to pursue this inevitable disruption.

With 9 tier-one module partners and over 170MW contracted, Erthos is crossing the chasm into broader adoption. But Tyler explains the shift hinges on LCOE gains trumping perceived risks, just as trackers prevailed for their 5% yield boost despite concerns. With 20% lower LCOE, Erthos should likewise win out.

Still, the transition takes ardent learners willing to embrace ground-mount solar’s advantages. Tyler compares it to next-gen trackers circa 2010 – early adopters tested the waters as bankers and others gradually recognized their value. Now developers like White Pine Renewables and Industrial Sun prove Erthos’ commercial viability.

Ultimately, Tyler sees electrification as insufficient to meet climate goals. Low-cost solar-powered hydrogen production holds the key through its scalable replacement of fossil fuels. He envisions massive off-grid complexes supplying clean fuel, with Erthos slashing solar input costs to under $20/MWh. For Tyler, ushering in this new era through innovation is what drives him.

Biden-Harris Administration launches interagency task force to build clean hydrogen economy  Under the new task force, federal agencies will coordinate efforts related to hydrogen across multiple areas, which includes enhanced outreach with tribal communities and other historically underserved communities.

Multi-day energy storage increases grid capacity by factor of ten  Form Energy released a white paper that provides further evidence that multi-day energy storage, like its iron-air technology, can substantially reduce the costs for New York to achieve its ambitious decarbonization targets.

Commerce finds solar antidumping violations: An industry reacts  pv magazine USA shares solar industry reactions to the finding that five major solar panel providers are in violation of U.S. antidumping laws.

California solar generation grew twentyfold in a decade  New data shows that the energy mix in California is moving away from fossil fuels, and embracing wind, solar and other clean resources.

KiloVault introduces solar-ready DIY off-grid battery  The battery is available in sizes between 4.3 kWh to 27.6 kWh, comes pre-wired with a single-phase AC inverter and can directly receive electrical loads.

Multi-generation photovoltaic leaf to produce electricity, thermal energy, water  A UK research team has developed a photovoltaic leaf concept that can produce electricity, water and thermal energy in a single device. The system, inspired by a leaf, is based on a biomimetic transpiration (BT) layer that cools down the embedded PV unit and utilizes excess heat from the cell to produce water and heat energy.

The Biden-Harris Administration has launched an inter-agency hydrogen task force designed to advance the administration’s “whole of government” approach to clean hydrogen, Mary Frances Repko, White House deputy national climate advisor, announced during a webinar. 

The task force will be co-chaired by Repko and David Turk, deputy secretary of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), and will “ensure that we fully leverage the strengths and capabilities of the U.S. government to develop technologies, implement policy, and overcome barriers to building the clean hydrogen economy,” Repko said. 

Clean hydrogen is expected to play an integral role in achieving a decarbonized energy system. It can be produced in nearly every corner of the country and across a wide range of sectors, and can be a useful tool to decarbonize “hard-to-decarbonize” sectors, like industrial and chemical processes and heavy transportation. It also provides a form of long-duration energy storage. 

In June, the Biden-Harris Administration released a national clean hydrogen strategy and roadmap, which includes strategic opportunities to domestically produce 10 million metric tonnes (MMT) of clean hydrogen annually by the end of the decade, 20 MMT annually by 2040, and 50 MMT annually by 2050. 

The administration is also looking to invest $8 billion in building regional hydrogen hubs, and implement a “game-changing” hydrogen production tax credit, Repko said. 

“The vast opportunities of the clean hydrogen economy extend beyond a few programs – it touches a wide segment of our society and cuts across many of the administration’s priorities,” Repko said.

Under the new task force, federal agencies will coordinate efforts related to hydrogen across multiple areas, Repko said. This includes ramping up outreach with tribal communities and other historically underserved communities. In addition, it will work closely with a spectrum of stakeholders from industry, academia and labor unions, she said. 

Multiple federal agencies are working on clean hydrogen-related initiatives. The DOE leads this area with research and development work on hydrogen delivery, storage and applications in transportation, energy storage, power generation and other sectors; The Department of Defense (DOD) has also conducted hydrogen-related research and development on things like underwater and aerial vehicles, and microgrids. And the Department of Agriculture  implements the Renewable Energy for America Program, which can include hydrogen, and provides loan financing and grants to implement renewable energy systems. 

The U.S. currently produces about 10 MMT of hydrogen annually, but the vast majority of that comes from fossil fuel sources without carbon capture technologies, Turk said. By 2030, the administration wants to produce that same amount of hydrogen, but entirely from clean resources. 

“Just to give you a sense of scale of what we’re talking about, 10 million metric tons of clean hydrogen [is] equivalent to the amount of energy used by every bus and every train in the United States combined,” Turk said.

Federal government proposes new rules for green-grid construction  The DOE established an interagency program to try to streamline the approval and construction of transmission grids with a timeboxed approach to the research collaboration building and renovation phase. 

California’s first full-scale direct air capture hub awarded $11.8 million  The hub could potentially remove more than 1 million metric tons of carbon dioxide every year, or the equivalent of eliminating 220,000 gasoline vehicles on the road annually.

Five major solar panel suppliers found in violation of antidumping laws  Units of BYD, Longi, Canadian Solar, Trina Solar and New East Solar were found in violation of trade laws and now face heavy tariffs. Three major suppliers were found to not be in violation.

Clean energy jobs seeing growth across the U.S.  Jobs in clean energy outpaced the overall workforce, adding nearly 4% from 2021 to 2022. That number is expected to rise as projects come to fruition as a result of passage of important clean energy legislation.

U.S. awards $34 million to 19 hydrogen projects  As the U.S. and British government press ahead with their hydrogen support projects, a team from Korea and the U..S has developed an iridium nanostructure catalyst, which decreased the amount of the chemical element. Meanwhile, hydrogen projects are proceeding in West Virginia, Denmark, Finland, and Japan.

New York State increases clean energy storage research incentives  Four demonstration projects receive funding to test and scale different long-duration energy storage technology proposals.

From pv magazine Global

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) announced the award of nearly $34 million to 19 industry- and university-led research projects to make clean hydrogen a more available and affordable fuel for electricity generation, industrial decarbonization, and transportation. With the recent selections, DOE’s Office of Fossil Energy and Carbon Management (FECM) has announced investments of more than $122 million in 72 projects since January 2021. “These projects support DOE’s Hydrogen Shot initiative, which seeks to reduce the cost of clean hydrogen by 80% to $1 per 1 kilogram in one decade to grow new, clean hydrogen pathways in the United States,” said the DOE.

A research team from Korea and US, led by Chanho Pak from Gwangju Institute of Science and Technology in Korea, has developed a novel mesoporous tantalum oxide (Ta₂O₅)-supported iridium nanostructure catalyst via a modified formic acid reduction method that reportedly achieves efficient PEM water electrolysis.“The electron-rich Ir nanostructure was uniformly dispersed on the stable mesoporous Ta₂O₅ support prepared via a soft-template method combined with an ethylenediamine encircling process, which effectively decreased the amount of Ir in a single PEMWE cell to 0.3 mg cm^–2,” said Pak.

The Ir/Ta₂O₅ catalyst design improved the utilization of Ir, while facilitating higher electrical conductivity and a large electrochemically active surface area. “X-ray photoelectron and X-ray absorption spectroscopies are used to demonstrate the strong metal-support interaction between Ir and Ta. The charge transfer from Ta to Ir has confirmed through density functional theory, which leads to enhanced OER activity of Ir/Ta₂O₅ (ɳ = 0.385 V) over IrO₂ (ɳ = 0.48 V). Ir/Ta₂O₅ presents a higher activity with an overpotential of 288 ± 3.9 mV at 10 mA cm⁻² and mass activity of 876.1 ± 125.1 A g_Ir⁻¹ at 1.55 V_RHE,” the researchers wrote in the paper “Electron-rich Ir nanostructure supported on mesoporous Ta2O5 for enhanced activity and stability of oxygen evolution reaction,” which was published in the Journal of Power Sources.

West Virginia Governor Jim Justice announced that Fidelis New Energy has selected Mason County as the site for a lifecycle carbon-neutral hydrogen production facility called The Mountaineer GigaSystem. “Mountaineer will be implementing the proprietary FidelisH2 technology that enables the production of hydrogen with zero lifecycle carbon emissions from a combination of natural gas, carbon capture, utilization, and sequestration (CCUS) and renewable energy,” said the West Virginia Governor. The project should be built in four phases, each producing over 500 metric tons per day (MTPD) of net-zero carbon hydrogen at an approximate capital cost of $2 billion per phase. The first FidelisH2 train of the Mountaineer GigaSystem should commence operations in 2028. Fidelis New Energy is also working on an onshore CO2 storage facility in Aalborg, Denmark. 

Denmark‘s Minister of Industry Morten Bødskov visited HySynergy to discuss green fuels and the next big export adventure, hydrogen. “On- and offshore renewable energy combined with Power-to-X and the production of green fuels can become the next big export adventure supporting finance Denmark’s welfare society for generations to come, says Everfuel and Crossbridge Energy,” said Everfuel, underling that the facility already displays a small hydrogen pipe that can deliver more than 8 tons of hydrogen per day from the producer Everfuel to the customer Crossbridge Energy. 

Wärtsilä will provide the front-end engineering design (FEED) for the liquefaction and storage of liquefied synthetic methane (LSM) at the plant to be built in Kristinestad, Finland, by Koppö Energia, a joint venture between Germany’s Prime Green Energy Infrastructure Fund and CPC Finland. “The FEED will be booked by Wärtsilä in Q3, 2023. The Power-to-X plant … will have a capacity of 200 MW and will convert green electricity into hydrogen and sustainable LSM. Up to 500 MW of wind and 100 MW of photovoltaic power will be developed under the Koppö Energy Cluster to supply the plant with completely emission-free renewable energy,” said the Finnish technology company. 

The British government announced that 262 MW of electrolyzer capacity had made it to the penultimate step of the Hydrogen Business Model allocation round. The government shortlisted 17 projects to negotiations. “Government is working at pace to ensure that the first electrolytic allocation round (HAR1) concludes before the end of 2023. We expect to award contracts totaling up to 250MW of capacity from HAR1, subject to affordability and value for money. We aim for contracts to be awarded in Q4 2023, with first projects becoming operational in 2025,” said the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero. 

Toppan announced it plans to enter the hydrogen market, leveraging its base sheet transfer technology and uniform coating process for large surfaces. The Japan-based company installed production equipment for Catalyst Coated Membrane (CCM)/Membrane Electrode Assemblies (MEA) at its Kochi Plant in Kochi Prefecture. “Aiming to enter the hydrogen energy market, Toppan is using a first-of-its-kind proprietary manufacturing method to enable mass production of high-performance, high-quality CCM/MEAs and is launching sales in August,” said the Japanese company. CCM/MEAs are core components of water electrolysis equipment for hydrogen production.