Is hydrogen really ready to take flight?

The concrete test track in Bedfordshire is a circular swath through lush countryside. It’s usually the place where high-performance vehicles are tested, but last weekend it was a less frantic form of transportation: a hydrogen prototype bus.

Belfast-based Wrightbus, owned by Jo Bamford, scion of the construction-equipment giant JCB, was at the Cenex Expo to show off a bus with hydrogen gas tanks, and fuel cells on the roof. Wrightbus already has about 300 hydrogen buses in service in major cities, including London.

Robert Best, the head of engineering, said that coaches were a significant improvement. He said that existing hydrogen vehicles were good for medium and slow speeds, but not so good for high speeds. This is a study on how to make a high-speed, hydrogen-powered vehicle that can handle long distances.

Wrightbus prototype coach on display since last week

Bill Gates, Microsoft’s founder and now an investor and environmentalist, has called hydrogen the “Swiss Army Knife of decarbonisation”. The main advantage of burning hydrogen is that it does not emit carbon dioxide. The gas is used in the production of petrochemicals and ammonia. It can also be used to produce steel and methanol.

This hype has subsided. In recent months, several companies have reduced or abandoned their investment in hydrogen. According to the International Energy Agency, only 4% of global hydrogen projects have been given final investment decisions. Is this Swiss Army knife blunted?

The need to produce large quantities of hydrogen is one of the main obstacles to its use. Hydrogen is one of the most abundant substances in the universe but it’s usually found in a bundle with other molecules. You have to split the molecule in order to get it. This requires energy.

Hydrogen is not likely to catch on because of the cost involved in using energy.

Michael Liebreich, a consultant in energy for industry and government, said: “It is not only expensive to produce clean hydrogen, but it is also expensive to store, transport and distribute it.”

The majority of hydrogen today comes from fossil fuels, such as natural gases. The industry is looking into the production of “blue hydrogen”, which is made from fossil fuels, but the carbon dioxide that results is stored in caverns.

The most environmentally friendly form of hydrogen is “green”. The cleanest form of hydrogen is “green” hydrogen.

However, critics of hydrogen question whether it is the best way to use renewable energy. Liebreich said, “If you have green electricity and you believe that we are in a climate emergency, then you shouldn’t throw it all away to make hydrogen. It’s an extremely inefficient process from beginning to end.”

Robert Howarth is a professor of ecology at Cornell University, New York. He agreed. He said that in most cases it’s more efficient to use renewable energy directly than to create hydrogen, then use it as fuel. “Hydrogen as a fuel has been over-hyped.”

Gas proponents argue that this is the best way to capture excess power from solar panels and wind farms when demand is low. Instead of paying to turn off wind turbines at these times as we currently do, plug this energy into an electriclyser and make some hydrogen. Store it in a storage tank until needed. Hydrogen is a large battery.

There are concerns that the industry will not be able to supply enough electrolysers. According to the International Renewable Energy Agency, only 1% of today’s hydrogen is clean and green.

It’s not moving fast enough. “More industries are talking about green hydrogen”, said Dr Sudhagar Pittchaimuthu of Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh. A directive in the EU has prompted these industries to reduce their emissions.

Pitchaimuthu, a member of a team that is looking for ways to reduce the cost of electrolysers through the use of other materials more abundant than the rare minerals used.

The amount of water required by electrolysers is another challenge. “To produce 1 kilogram hydrogen, you need 9 to 14 kilograms water. Pitchaimuthu said that if you wanted to make a million tonnes hydrogen, you would need a lot of water. Scientists are becoming more creative. His team revealed earlier this year that they were researching the use of waste water from distilling whisky.

Green hydrogen’s champions might feel discouraged, given the odds against it. Chester Lewis, the head of sourcing for Ryze, a hydrogen supplier backed by Bamford, says that this is not true. There’s been some lull with new projects. “But we are starting to see larger projects coming through,” he stated.

Despite the fact that a few companies, including the Danish energy giant Orsted as well as the Australian miner Fortescue have reduced their hydrogen-based projects this year, others are committed to bringing these projects into production. Shell approved a project for Germany in July. TotalEnergies of France bought a half of an offshore wind farm in the same month with the intention of using it to produce hydrogen.

The hype around hydrogen has definitely subsided, especially in the past two years. “I think that the demise of hydrogen is overstated,” Lacie Midgley said, an analyst with Panmure Liberum.

JJ Traynor is the managing partner of HydrogenOne, an investment fund listed on the stock exchange that invests in this sector. He said: “Hydrogen actually accelerates pretty quickly.” Data showed that investments had increased by a quarter in the technology so far in 2018.

The government played a role in awarding contracts for hydrogen suppliers who guarantee a price for their product after 15 years. Contracts for the first round were announced in 2012, and a second round is expected soon. By providing clarity about the price suppliers will be paid, the initiative hopes to provide incentives for production similar to government schemes which sparked the development of solar and wind power.

Eugene McKenna is the commercial and strategy director of hydrogen at Johnson Matthey. He believes that prices must come down for consumers before green hydrogen can truly take off.

He said, “A lot businesses have invested and are now ready to produce [hydrogen].” The problem is that the demand for hydrogen is not as strong as it should. The end product must be priced appropriately. We are now in a good position to meet the demand as it increases.

The transport industry is now embracing hydrogen gas, almost a decade after Toyota introduced the Mirai hydrogen-powered car. BMW unveiled its first hydrogen-fuel-cell vehicle last week. It will debut in 2028. Vauxhall’s owner Stellantis is launching a medium-sized van this month.

BMW has tested a hydrogen-powered car

On headphones, Cenex Bedfordshire attendees were treated to a two-day seminar by hydrogen experts on the advantages and disadvantages of this gas in the transport sector.

Ian Constance, the chief executive of Advanced Propulsion Centre (APC), a government-backed organisation that funded the project, was seated on the experimental Wrightbus coach. He said that hydrogen transportation would be a part of decarbonisation alongside battery-electric vehicles. He said that it was not a question of battery versus hydrogen. He added that hydrogen is useful for large vehicles, as it weighs less than batteries and can be refueled quickly.

Only six public filling stations are available in the UK. Constance, however, said that there have been studies that show that it is not necessary to have that many filling stations in order to cover the majority of the UK. It is possible. We need to see a coordinated approach from the government to energy supply.”

He added that the UK was one of world’s leaders in hydrogen technologies. “That won’t last unless we continue supporting it.”