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New Energy World™
New Energy World™ embraces the whole energy industry as it connects and converges to address the decarbonisation challenge. It covers progress being made across the industry, from the dynamics under way to reduce emissions in oil and gas, through improvements to the efficiency of energy conversion and use, to cutting-edge initiatives in renewable and low-carbon technologies.
HDF Energy and Falcon Capital Dakhla are to co-develop an 8 MW green hydrogen production plant in the Dakhla region of Morocco.
The White Dunes project will aim to achieve a capacity of 10 GW in wind energy, 7 GW in photovoltaic (PV) energy and 8 GW in electrolysers.
A first phase of the project, estimated at an investment of $2bn, is currently under development. Construction is planned to start in 2025, with hydrogen production scheduled for 2028.
Damien Havard, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, HDF Energy, says: ‘The collaboration with Falcon Capital Dakhla represents the perfect synergy between two complementary entities to produce some of the world’s most competitive green hydrogen in Morocco.’
Spanish Hydrogen plant plans
In other news, Lhyfe has been awarded a grant of up to €14mn from H2 Pioneros to build a 15 MW green hydrogen production plant in Spain.
Delivering 5 t/d of green hydrogen, the plant will be located in an industrial area in Vallmoll (Tarragona) and will address demand for green hydrogen from different companies in the area.
The H2 Pioneros Programme is a funding call created in Spain to support initiatives in renewable energy, green hydrogen and energy storage. Lhyfe’s project is one of only 14 across Spain this year that have been awarded grant financing through the programme.
The grant, which will fund the design phases, the supply of equipment and construction work, represents about half of the total estimated investment in the project, with first hydrogen expected to be produced in 2026.
The company has also recently won a call for proposals to develop a green hydrogen industrial production and distribution site in Montoir-de-Bretagne (Loire-Atlantique), France. As part of this project, Lhyfe will build an industrial unit with a production capacity of up to 85 t/d of green and renewable hydrogen (with installed electrolysis capacity of 210 MW) located in the north of the bulk port terminal. The site is planned to be operational by 2028.
EC launches first hydrogen bank auction
The European Commission (EC) has launched the first auction under the European Hydrogen Bank to support the production of renewable hydrogen in Europe, with an initial €800mn of emissions trading revenues, channelled through the Innovation Fund.
Producers of renewable hydrogen can bid for support in the form of a fixed premium per kilogramme of hydrogen produced. The premium is intended to bridge the gap between the price of production and the price consumers are currently willing to pay, in a market where non-renewable hydrogen is still cheaper to produce.
The Hydrogen Bank complements other EC policy tools which aim to build a market for renewable hydrogen, stimulate investments in production capacity and bring production to scale.
New interactive tool to track development of hydrogen
In other news, the International Energy Agency (IEA) has released two interactive data tools that allow users to explore developments related to low emissions hydrogen projects worldwide.
The first of the new tools is an interactive map of low-emissions hydrogen production projects around the world. This provides a snapshot of progress on hydrogen production, with data on almost 2,000 projects that are either already in operation or have been announced. It shows that most projects to date are concentrated in Europe and Australia, but a growing number are planned in Africa, China, India, Latin America and the US.
The second tool will allow users to assess the levelised cost of hydrogen production from solar PV and onshore wind in different regions worldwide. Based on the hourly solar PV and onshore wind capacity factors of locations, the tool displays the cost-optimal capacities for solar PV, wind and electrolysers, as well as the need for flexibility options such as hydrogen storage, battery storage or curtailment. Users can adjust assumptions about costs, including the cost of capital, to visualise different potential outlooks for the cost of low-emissions hydrogen production.
