The Atlantic Council says that the DOE's announcement represents the most substantial public investment in US hydrogen and noted that California and Texas are the hubs of clean hydrogen activities, with a future outlook for blue hydrogen. However, the council mentioned a missed opportunity for hydrogen use in long-haul trucking. To address this, the Atlantic Council made recommendations for policymakers, suggesting a focus on cost sharing for demand-side projects within the H2Hub funding derived from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.

From pv magazine 10/23

At the end of August, the Italian Council of State issued two different rulings. The institution is an important legal and administrative consultative body in Italy, with jurisdiction over the acts of all administrative authorities. With the two rulings, the Council of State effectively said that agrivoltaic projects cannot be treated as conventional ground-mounted PV plants.

“The two sentences outline a substantially different regulatory framework for agrivoltaics and traditional photovoltaics,” said Andrea Sticchi Damiani, a lawyer who was involved in the matter. “The administrative justice has filled the last gaps so the legislative framework for agrivoltaics is now completely clear.”

The two rulings relate to two projects in the Italian province of Brindisi, with generation capacities of 6 MW and 110 MW. The province is in the region of Apulia, which has one of the highest PV adoption levels in Italy.

“The criteria that were used previously, such as the consumption of territory with respect to normal agricultural use, is an objection that can no longer be raised,” Sticchi Damiani said. “They are not hectares taken away from agricultural areas. On the contrary, they are often formerly-unproductive areas that will become productive again.”

Italian ambition

REM Tec, an Italian agrivoltaic project developer with an international focus, describes itself as the first in the world to develop sustainable projects for solar energy production in the agricultural sector. The company’s French CEO, Ronald Knoche, says the primary hurdle for agrivoltaics in Italy is the lack of a clear definition of the technology.

France codified an agrivoltaic definition into law in March. While some details are missing, the definition specifies that land occupied by agrivoltaics should primarily be used for agricultural purposes.

Legal developments in Italy are slower even if commercial plans for agrivoltaics are more ambitious. In April 2021, the last Italian government, led by Mario Draghi until October last year, presented a €1.1 billion ($1.17 billion) plan to deploy a little over 1 GW of advanced agrivoltaic systems by June 2026. The installations must include “innovative” mounting solutions that place solar modules above the ground without compromising the continuity of agricultural operations.

“The Italian government has two approaches: a generic definition and a better way of doing it,” said REM Tec’s Knoche. “I don’t think it is the right way forward. Many stakeholders are accusing the local industry of doing ground-mounted agrivoltaic systems, ignoring the agriculture and landscape.”

He conceded that advanced agrivoltaic projects are expensive but suggested that the €1.1 billion fund is a way to support research activity seeking to establish best practice and avoid problems. Knoche mentioned Taiwan, which was a leader in agrivoltaic development before the Covid-19 pandemic. Concerning agrivoltaics, Knoche said, “It is now forbidden, as the industry was not doing projects very well.”

Follow the money

The REM Tec chief said the way to understand the power dynamic between agriculture and energy production is to follow the money.

Discussing the returns available from the two revenue streams, Knoche said, “A hectare will grant €100,000 for power production and as little as €2,000 for wheat agricultural production. This creates an imbalance, leading to some farmers receiving offers for land at €10,000 per hectare per year, from energy producers. It is an incentive to switch from agricultural production to power production: the income is higher and the risks are less. The Italian government seems to have partially understood it.”

Knoche said that agrivoltaics could account for the third-largest share of Italian PV power production in the future, behind traditional ground-mounted systems on industrial sites, and residential rooftop installations.

“Panel prices are decreasing, the knowledge about agrivoltaics is increasing, the economies of scale are such that the business models are changing, with agrivoltaics being one of the new business models,” he added.

The Joint Research Centre, the European Commission’s science and knowledge service, this year reported that agrivoltaic projects with 20 GW to 30 GW of generation capacity will have applied for administrative authorization under the national permitting process in Italy.

REM Tec worked with Italian standardization body UNI, national research agency ENEA, and the Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore to draw up UNI/PdR 148:2023, a set of guidelines for the implementation of agrivoltaic projects.

The UNI standard, which incorporates existing regulations, has no practical application but proponents suggest it could facilitate permitting processes for local governments in Italy as well as administrative decisions for the country’s grid network authority, the GSE.

Land use

A Canadian inventor, Antoine Paulus, said new agrivoltaic designs are essential to decrease land usage. His own invention, dynamic building-integrated PV (DBIPV), is a mobile and removable system based on existing technology.

“My concept is based on shades with PV panels inserted in them, strung over the land with steel cables from mobile platforms at a higher elevation, to allow farm machines and livestock to pass under without obstruction,” explained Paulus. “With mobile platforms at the two ends, it is possible to stretch the shades over any area and close and move them or relocate them.”

DBIPV makes use of thin, light, and flexible PV panels, such as fiberglass-based silicon PV or organic modules. The steel cables are similar to those used in cranes. Paulus said his concept is safe as the units can be folded quickly in the event of an emergency.

“The fact that they are used in smaller clusters and each panel is in a sleeve separate from the other is another advantage,” Paulus added.

The Canadian inventor said that because the concept has not been tested yet, it is difficult to provide a levelized cost of energy estimate. Paulus said the utility of his invention is a no-brainer as it makes perfect commercial sense.

Alessandra Scognamiglio, coordinator of a task force on sustainable agrivoltaics at ENEA, said that similar, integrated projects have been considered before in the field of building-integrated photovoltaics but were not successful simply because of the effort required to create demand for them. “The market is generally not ready for innovation,” she said.

Apart from collaborating on the UNI standard, ENEA continues to research agrivoltaic projects. By the end of the year, it aims to release an online map that will assist with the selection of appropriate locations, based on factors that can positively affect co-located agricultural and energy production projects. Scognamiglio said the map would not include areas with restrictions on land use for PV.

The researcher, who also serves as president of sustainable agrivoltaic association AIAS, added that Italian authorities have so far placed little value on carrying out research activity on agrivoltaics, instead preferring to invest European Union funds in single projects.

“Private entrepreneurs are doing the research themselves, through universities and other entities,” said Scognamiglio. “The UNI standard is part of this context, a context where a clear regulatory framework is lacking.”

In June 2022, the Draghi government published guidelines for agrivoltaic projects but since the relevant minister did not sign them, they still do not actually have a legal basis.

“In October 2022, the government said it would make the necessary changes to the guidelines after discussions with operators,” explained Scognamiglio. “This has not happened.”

Legal position

Addressing Sticchi Damiani’s claim the legislative framework for agrivoltaics is now completely clear, Scognamiglio said that the lawyer is correct from a legal perspective.

“Any plaintiff who goes to court is now expected to win. This is not to say that a cultural gap has been filled because the word ‘agrivoltaic' is new, and it has not yet been defined,” she added.

That process is likely to lead to lawsuits or disjointed legal development. Scognamiglio warned that Italian regions have already started writing their own local guidelines on agrivoltaic installations in response to the number of requests they have received, and the scale of some of the projects. The Piedmont region, in northern Italy, published a principle for agrivoltaic projects in farming lands with high agronomic interest. The so-called “principle of continuity” requires agricultural production in the three years following the agrivoltaic installation to be at least 70% of the value of the farm output in the five productive years before deployment.

Shortly after Piedmont published its guidelines, the Italian government released a draft decree on “eligible areas,” a requirement of the soon-to-be-passed European renewables directive Red III. Scognamiglio confirmed that the constraints of the Italian draft decree would apply to some agrivoltaic projects: those on the ground, and inter-row PV systems. “It is most probably because agrivoltaics are still not credible enough to agricultural stakeholders, as the real difference between agri-PV and ground-mounted PV is not defined,” she said.

Industry pushback

Trade association Italia Solare says that the PV sector is being called on to achieve stringent renewables capacity targets. It believes that a preference for elevated systems would be detrimental to efforts to achieve these targets, as only 1 GW of annual installations, with high costs, could be achieved in the country with this technology. It notes that such arrays would also have a significant impact on the Italian landscape.

Rolando Roberto, vice president of Italia Solare, has argued constraints that include a preference for elevated systems could be viewed as counter-productive.

“Steel is no innovation,” he said. “Elevated systems with fixed maximal height sometimes do not make sense. Ministerial guidelines and other regulatory guidance documents qualify systems with minimum heights of 2.1 meters and 1.3 meters for agricultural crops and livestock activities, respectively.”

The PV association also said the sector must work on agricultural productivity data, analyzing different crops and climates. “Only when data are available can percentage constraints be introduced,” it explained. “Agrivoltaics must gain experience through experimentation, research, and development. In the meantime, however, it is necessary to allow the installation of efficient and truly achievable systems, in addition to experimental plants, even without the support of European subsidies.”

Perspective of farmers

At the other end of the debate, farming unions are asking for more restrictions on agrivoltaics. Coldiretti wants its members to be driving agrivoltaic deployment as, it argues, they will prioritize continuing food production on such sites.

“The integration of energy production in agricultural activities should not upset those balances that qualify agricultural income,” said Stefano Masini, environment and land manager at Coldiretti. “The sizing of installations should not depend on economies of scale or industrial logic, as is the case with ground-mounted photovoltaics.”

Masini argued that investments in agrivoltaic projects could be seen as a loophole to incentivize ground-mounted PV on agricultural soil. “According to data from the 2014 GSE statistical report, the area of panels installed on the ground at that date amounted to 13,877 hectares, of which 4,000 were in Puglia alone,” he said.

He said the total land requirements of ground-mounted solar projects meant that figure translated into around 30,000 to 35,000 hectares removed from agricultural use.

Scale

“The actual figure, however, is semi-unknown since, especially in recent years, there has been a sharp increase in incentive-free large-scale PV investment,” added Masini

The Coldiretti rep said that if utility scale projects were predominantly found on agricultural land, an additional 70,000 to 90,000 hectares could be taken away from agricultural use, equal to about 0.3% to 0.5% of current agricultural land.

Masini said he favors tailor-made installations that could increase farmer competitiveness but he cautions that there are significant complexities. Funds, which in some cases come from European Union programs, often have an expiration date.

“The need to make agrivoltaics a technology that can easily and quickly access energy incentives probably does not fit well with the complexity that requires an approach of real integration between energy and [agriculture],” he said.

Agrivoltaic expansion could also inflate land rental values, said Coldiretti, which claimed rental prices could rise by 40%. “The average bid for land for photovoltaic or agrivoltaic fields is four to five times higher than the normal market value. But, in some cases, it is as high as 10 to 15 times. It depends on the location of the land.”

Battolyser Systems has developed an energy system to store and supply electricity as a battery and produce hydrogen via electrolysis. It is an optimization of the nickel-iron battery patented by Thomas Edison at the turn of the 20th century. 

The company, which recently started production of its patented dual battery-electrolysis system in the Rotterdam area, currently produces systems up to a couple of megawatts. It aims to manufacture 50 MW systems in its production facility by 2024, and 200 MW by 2025. 

“The technology is based on nickel-iron electrodes. They are combined with alkaline electrolysis technologies that are commercially available today, with a proven track record of 20 to 30 years lifetime,” said Geert Wassens, fundraising associate at Battolyser Systems. “Integration of these technologies remarkably improves performance, lowers cost and increases uptime.”

The electrodes are in a conductive electrolyte circulated through the cells. In the first electrochemical reaction, the electrodes are charged and store electrons, acting as a battery. When one keeps charging (overcharge), hydrogen and oxygen are formed in a subsequent reaction. Gaseous hydrogen is produced at the negative electrode (cathode) and oxygen at the positive electrode (anode).

The company said the system could hit a lower LCOH of around €1.50/kg in the most appropriate locations by 2025. 

“In the most favorable geographies, the Battolyser is able to offer ~€2/kg by 2025. An important note to this analysis is that it does not yet include the positive economic impacts of discharging electricity from the Battolyser to the grid, it only considers revenue from producing hydrogen,” Wassens told pv magazine. “Therefore, the advantage in LCOH of Battolyser over competing alternatives will be even greater. Including this value, the LCOH is near to €1.50/kg.”

Battolyser Systems said the battery function can monetize daily power imbalances, while the hydrogen can monetize seasonal power imbalances and provide feedstock to industries that cannot be electrified. It said it can reach up to 85% system efficiency and up to 90% at stack level.

Battolyser Systems has signed a deal to develop a second production facility in the Rotterdam area. In 2026, the production facility, co-owned by the Rotterdam port authority, will be commissioned to add 1 GW of production capacity.

Battolyser Systems and the European Investment Bank (EIB) have also signed a €40 million financing agreement in Rotterdam during World Hydrogen Week.

“The financing will enable the company to scale its production facility in Rotterdam towards mass production of its combined electricity storage and electrolyzer stack system,” said Battolyser Systems.

The company said it does not use any critical raw materials, resorting only to nickel and iron, in line with the recent normative and political developments at the European level, including the RED II and the Critical Raw Materials Act. 

“We have a number of hydrogen projects in the pipeline that we are looking to sign in the near future, although perhaps not necessarily still this year,” an EIB spokesperson told pv magazine. 

From pv magazine Italy

Italian research agency ENEA and Enel Green Power, the renewable energy unit of Italian utility Enel, have developed a PV system that could be used in combination with the production of microalgae for food, cosmetic and pharmaceutical use.

“The algovoltaic plant, just completed at the ENEA Research Center in Portici, Naples, as part of an agreement between ENEA and Enel Green Power, allows an annual production of approximately 30 kg of dried algae on a surface area of 40 m2 and a power of 7 kW,” said the Italian research entity.

The system allows the cultivation of microalgae with a high commercial value, from €100/kg to €600/kg for pharmaceutical or cosmetic use, through a fully automated cultivation system integrated with the solar array.

“Algae allow us to exploit the energy coming from the sun better than traditional crops since they have greater photosynthetic efficiency,” said Carmine Cancro, a researcher at the ENEA Smart Grid and Energy Networks laboratory at the Portici Research Centre. “Furthermore, they have a high environmental value as they consume carbon dioxide, transforming it into biomass through photosynthesis and releasing pure oxygen into the atmosphere.”

Cancro said that the system could also be used to retrofit existing PV systems.

From pv magazine Italy

The submarine cable will connect a new converter station in Galatina, southern Italy, with a station in Thesprotia, in Greece's Epirus region

“Terna, with the support of the Puglia Region and other regional administrations, has started the voluntary consultation process as early as 2022,” said Terna.

India and Saudi Arabia have agreed to jointly develop electrical interconnections and low-carbon hydrogen. The Indian government said the two sides aim to establish a general framework for cooperation in the field of co-production of green/clean hydrogen and renewable energy.

Saudi Aramco and Denmark’s Topsoe have announced plans to demonstrate eREACT technology for blue hydrogen production. They will build a demonstration plant at the Shaybah Natural Gas Liquids recovery plant in Saudi Arabia.

Saudi Arabia Railways (SAR) will operate and demonstrate the world's first passenger hydrogen-powered train, the Coradia iLint, in Riyadh in October. The French train manufacturer, Alstom, will conduct this unique journey, with the train traveling 10 to 20 kilometers on Riyadh's East Network's Line 1 or Line 2.

Masdar has partnered with Boeing to advance the sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) industry in the United Arab Emirates and globally. SAF, produced from sources such as green hydrogen, can reduce carbon emissions by up to 85% compared to petroleum jet fuel.

The Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) has launched its new Hydrogen Headstart program, supporting large-scale hydrogen projects over a 10-year period. “AHC [Australian Hydrogen Council] called for the Federal Government to act quickly to ensure hydrogen projects in Australia have certainty in the face of fierce global market competition, and we are pleased they have recognised the urgency,” said Fiona Simon, CEO of the Australian Hydrogen Council. Expressions of Interest are now open, and will close 10 November 2023.

Repsol has started its 2.5 MW electrolyzer at the Petronor industrial center in Spain, supplying renewable hydrogen for industrial use, buses, and heavy vehicles.

Thyssenkrupp nucera and Neste have announced plans to incorporate a 120 MW water electrolyzer into Neste’s Porvoo refinery in Finland.

From pv magazine Italy

Gestore dei Servizi Energetici (GSE), the Italian energy agency, has launched the country's 13th auction for renewable energy projects above 1 MW in size. It said the new procurement will consider current inflation levels.

“In application of Legislative Decree 57/2023 Urgent Measures for the Energy Sector, for the thirteenth renewable energy auction the tariff values will be updated by referring to the national consumer price index, to keep account of the cumulative average inflation from August 2019 to September 2023,” the agency stated.

Interested developers can submit project proposals from Oct. 18.

In the 12th renewables auction, which concluded in early October, the Italian authorities allocated 48 MW of installed solar power and 10 MW of wind capacity. Developers offered discounts ranging from 2% to 2.1% off the auction ceiling price of €0.065 ($0.068)/kWh. The lowest bid, at €0.0636/kWh, was for a 9.7 MW solar facility in the province of Campobasso, southern Italy.

In the 11th procurement exercise, the GSE allocated 149 MW of solar capacity across 16 locations and five wind projects with a combined capacity of 213.8 MW. Developers submitted maximum discounts ranging from 2% to 2.8% off the auction ceiling price. These bids were slightly higher or equal to those in the 10th renewable energy auction and all previous actions.

ADNOC has announced a final investment decision (FID) and contract awards for the Hail and Ghasha offshore gas project, set to produce over 1.5 billion standard cubic feet per day of gas by the end of the decade. The project aims to capture 1.5 million tonnes per year (mtpa) of CO2, bringing ADNOC’s carbon capture investment to nearly 4 mtpa, with CO2 captured, transported onshore, stored underground, and low-carbon hydrogen production for emissions reduction. ADNOC awarded $17 billion in contracts, including the first EPC contract for offshore facilities to a joint venture between National Petroleum Construction Company and Saipem and another for onshore scope, including CO2 and sulfur recovery, to Tecnimont.

Essar Oil UK has chosen Mitsubishi Heavy Industries as the technology license partner for its CCS project, the EET Industrial Carbon Capture facility in Stanlow, furthering investments in CCS, hydrogen, and biofuels.

Iveco and Hyundai have revealed the first Iveco Bus E-way H2, a 12-meter low-floor city bus equipped with a 310-kW e-motor and an advanced fuel cell system from Hyundai's HTWO. The bus features four hydrogen tanks with a total storage capacity of 7.8 kg and a 69 kWh battery pack by FPT Industrial. Production will take place in Annonay, France, and Foggia, Italy, offering a driving range of 450 km under typical operating conditions.

The government of the Philippines has invited all interested parties to provide feedback on the proposed Department Circular regarding a national policy framework for hydrogen in the energy sector. The government noted a preference for hydrogen and its derivatives production from renewables, providing details on funding opportunities as part of the nation's efforts to establish a policy framework and support infrastructure.

Everfuel and Hy24 have successfully completed the establishment of their joint venture, with Everfuel owning 51% and the Hy24-managed Clean Hydrogen Infrastructure Fund holding 49%. The venture will finance electrolyzer capacity development across the Nordics, focusing on the EU market. The first acquisition by the venture is Everfuel's HySynergy Phase 1 flagship project, valued at €26.9 million ($28.3 million) with a debt-free asset value of €44.9 million.

From pv magazine Italy

GSE has published an interactive map of the primary substations in Italy. The tool allows users to geolocalize connection points for energy communities, as required by Italian legislation on self-consumption.

Mattiq is developing a range of alternatives to iridium, a costly and rare element crucial in proton exchange membrane (PEM) water electrolyzers. The alternatives offer comparable or superior performance at a significantly lower cost, according to the Chicago-based company. It achieved this by evaluating “millions of combinations” of different elements for their suitability in industrial applications.

Hystar has unveiled plans for a fully automated 4 GW electrolyzer factory set to be delivered in Høvik, Norway, by 2025, with construction commencing in early 2024. The company is also expanding its operations to North America, with a new location scheduled for 2024 and a multi-gigawatt factory scheduled for 2027. It is starting the hiring process for its North American headquarters as part of this expansion. In addition, the PEM electrolyzer specialist is in talks with key stakeholders in the United States and Canada to establish its first gigawatt factory on the continent, with ambitions to surpass its European plans within the decade.

Air Liquide and Trillium Energy Solutions have agreed to collaborate in the US heavy-duty hydrogen fueling market. They will focus on hydrogen supply and refueling infrastructure to accelerate the heavy-duty hydrogen transportation ecosystem. The partnership's initial phase involves deploying hydrogen stations along a strategically significant trucking route.

Daimler Truck says that a public road-approved prototype of the Mercedes-Benz GenH2 Truck covered 1,047 km with one fill of liquid hydrogen. The test “has successfully demonstrated that hydrogen fuel-cell technology can be the right solution to decarbonize flexible and demanding long-haul road transportation.” The truck completed the run fully loaded, with a gross combined vehicle weight of 40 tons under real-life conditions. Ahead of the run, cryogenic liquid hydrogen at minus 253 degrees Celsius was filled into two 40 kg tanks mounted on either side of the truck chassis.

From pv magazine Italy

Gestore dei Servizi Energetici (GSE), Italy's energy agency, has allocated 58 MW of renewable energy capacity in the country's 12th renewable energy auction, for projects above 1 MW in size.

The GSE awarded 48 MW of solar capacity across seven locations and one wind project with a capacity of 10 MW MW. The PV projects range in size from 3.5 MW to 9.9 MW.

The developers offered a maximum discount ranging from 2% to 2.1% from the auction ceiling price of €0.065 ($0.068)/kWh. The lowest bid came in at €0.0636/kWh and was offered for a 9.7 MW solar facility in the province of Campobasso, southern Italy.

The bids were slightly higher or equal to those in the 11th renewable energy auction and all other previous actions.

In the 11th procurement exercise, the GSE allocated 149 MW of solar capacity across 16 locations and five wind projects with a combined capacity of 213.8 MW. The developers submitted a maximum discount ranging from 2% to 2.8% from the auction ceiling price.

Researchers led by MIT and Shanghai Jiao Tong University have demonstrated solar-powered multi-stage membrane distillation. They claim it can significantly reduce the cost of water production.

“The configuration of the device allows water to circulate in swirling eddies, in a manner similar to the much larger ‘thermohaline' circulation of the ocean,” the scientists said. “This circulation, combined with the sun’s heat, drives water to evaporate, leaving salt behind. The resulting water vapor can then be condensed and collected as pure, drinkable water. In the meantime, the leftover salt continues to circulate through and out of the device, rather than accumulating and clogging the system.”

The team built several prototypes, with one, three and 10 stages, and tested their performance in water of different salinity, including natural seawater and seven times saltier water.

“With a 10-stage device, we achieve record-breaking solar-water efficiency of 322%-121% in a salinity range of 0 to 20% by weight, under the illumination of a single sun. Furthermore, we demonstrate extreme resistance to salt accumulation with a 180-hour continuous desalination of 20 wt% concentrated seawater,” they concluded.

They presented the system in “Extreme salt-resisting multistage solar distillation with thermohaline convection,” which was recently published in Joule.

Mauritania could be in an advantageous position to export hydrogen to international markets, potentially surpassing countries such as Morocco and Egypt in this regard, according to Michaël Tanchum, a non-resident fellow at the Middle East Institute. Mauritania's smaller population, vast coverage by the Sahara Desert with abundant direct normal irradiation (DNI) levels, and rich wind energy resources contribute to its favorable position. Additionally, being the only Sahel nation with a coastline allows Mauritania to facilitate off-take for export markets.

Galp has made a final investment decision on two large-scale projects to reduce the carbon footprint of the Sines refinery, including a 100 MW of electrolyzers for up to 15 ktpa of green hydrogen production. The unit, for a total investment of €250 million, is expected to have its first start up in 2025. The electrolyzers will be supplied by renewable power, originating from long-term supply agreements. Plug Power was awarded the order for the 100 MW proton exchange membrane (PEM) electrolyzers, while Technip Energies will be the main EPCM provider.

CSIRO, Australia’s national science agency, has identified hydrogen seeps in PEL 691, an exploration permit awarded to H2EX in June 2022 in South Australia. “We now focus our attention to mapping the subsurface to identify commercial accumulations of natural hydrogen,” said H2EX CEO Mark Hanna. H2EX will deploy Space Technologies' passive seismic sensors, with a survey scheduled for the fourth quarter.

The International Energy Agency (IEA) says that low-emission hydrogen represents less than 1% of global production and use, with ongoing low capacity and volumes due to developers awaiting government support amid rising costs. The IEA's latest report warns of rising expenses threatening project profitability, due to global energy crises, high inflation, and supply chain disruptions. “This confluence of factors is particularly detrimental for an industry that faces high upfront costs related to equipment manufacturing, construction, and installation,” it said. China leads in hydrogen investments, with electrolyzer capacity set to triple to 2GW by the end of 2023, with China contributing half.

Verdagy, an electrolyzer company, has announced the opening of a new factory in Newark, California. It is set to manufacture advanced water electrolyzers at scale in the United States starting in the first quarter of 2024. The company aims to achieve the US Department of Energy’s goal of $2/kg of levelized cost of hydrogen by 2026.

Laurence Boisramé, global director of hydrogen at Bureau Veritas, says that Europe is developing a set of measures that could increase its industrial and commercial weight in the global hydrogen market.

Despite some delays in production, Europe is reportedly “still in the race.” Boisramé explained that a clear policy push is leading to significant advancements in the European Union and the United States. She noted European measures such as RePowerEU and the Fit for 55 package, but also the definition of “clean hydrogen” and the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) in the United States. 

“After the IRA announcement, some players have questioned the industrial and commercial leadership of Europe. Latest initiatives such as H2Global and more recently announced European Hydrogen Bank are instrumental to the development of production and commercialization of green hydrogen and derivatives,” Boisramé told pv magazine. “On the legal side, [the non-biological origin] definition is also a major milestone. Despite one can criticize the outcome, it provides the long-standing expected visibility.”

She said the question is whether the European definition of renewable hydrogen and derivatives, reported in the delegated act on renewable fuels of non-biological origin (RFNBO), can become a global reference.

Boisramé said that standardization, transparency, clear rules and definitions are essential to increasing trust in the energy sector, even more so in the hydrogen market. 

“Trust will come with real transparency, where production projects will be assessed by independent third parties providing assurance that they comply with the rules. This is where certification comes in,” she added, in reference to independent third parties such as certification bodies. 

Mutual recognition will be necessary globally to create a commoditized market and allow cross-border trading. Alternatively, countries, companies, and other stakeholders have to align on standard rules at the multinational level. 

“This is promoted by several global organizations such as AIE, IRENA, IPHE, and the Hydrogen Council, to name a few,” she said. “But getting to a global consensus will take time, at least a few years.”

Role of certification

The role of certification is to ensure conformity to a standard, which can be a global standard, a regulatory regime, or a voluntary scheme. 

“Currently, there is no global standard or regulatory certification scheme applying to hydrogen production worldwide,” said Boisramé. “Some countries are developing rules and certification schemes applying to domestic production, especially to grant public support.”

Bureau Veritas has developed a voluntary certification scheme to ensure that hydrogen production is safe, sustainable, and from renewable inputs, with a maximum carbon footprint of 2 kg CO2eq per kilogram of hydrogen. 

“This certification scheme addresses production assets worldwide with a single methodology applying globally. Recently, the certification has been extended to ammonia produced from the conversion of renewable hydrogen,” she said, explaining that the schemes should accelerate permitting and acceptability, while fostering project bankability.

Bureau Veritas is also performing audits and inspections of suppliers to assess the supply chain's performance and resilience, decreasing the risks connected to the projects. 

Boisramé noted the ongoing increase in the number of projects announced across different regions, fostered by government strategies and incentives schemes. 

“However, we are far from achieving a mature industry, with a lot to be put in place such as global standards, same definitions, and rules as the basis for international trade of hydrogen and derivatives,” she said. 

Boisramé also pointed to an acceleration in the number of production projects in the United States and China, despite delays in the definition of incentives supporting the demand side for green or decarbonized hydrogen. 

“Other countries such as Australia, India, Spain, and the United Kingdom can see an acceleration in the number of production projects as well,” Boisramé said. “In terms of import infrastructure, Europe is the more advanced, especially northwestern Europe with import hubs (such as Rotterdam, Amsterdam, Antwerp, and Hamburg) already involved in concrete development, bilateral agreements, investing in terminals evolution to anticipate hydrogen and derivatives offloading, storage and handling.”

Hitachi Energy has supplied Ovako with a modular eHouse solution for the electrification of a 20 MW electrolyzer in Hofors, Sweden. The project marks the world's first steel plant to use hydrogen for heating before the rolling process. Beyond steel heating, the hydrogen will fuel cell-powered trucks, and surplus heat from the plant will support district heating. Hitachi Energy's delivery includes a modular Grid-to-Stack solution, with components such as transformers, rectifiers, control equipment, and high-current connections to convert alternating current from the distribution grid into the direct current required for the electrolyzer. The company has collaborated on the system's development with Volvo Group, H2 Green Steel, and Nel Hydrogen.

Enapter has expanded its product lineup with the introduction of the “AEM Flex 120,” a new AEM electrolyzer for industrial and refueling pilot projects. The AEM Flex 120 features up to 50 AEM Stack core modules, ensuring high reactivity to fluctuating renewable energy sources. It can produce approximately 53 kg of hydrogen per day at 99.999 percent purity, with the option for a dryer. This electrolyzer addresses the market gap between Enapter's AEM Electrolyser EL 4 (1 kg/day) and its megawatt-scale AEM Multicore (450 kg/day), and the company is scaling up its production capacities to meet demand.

The Port of Rotterdam and the inland Port of Duisburg have jointly presented the findings of a feasibility study focused on North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. The results show a significant local increase in demand for low-carbon hydrogen, exceeding 3 million tons per year until 2045. To meet this growing demand for green hydrogen in the medium term, the study recommends completing the first hydrogen pipeline between the two ports by 2027. Subsequently, pipelines for hydrogen derivatives and CO2 export should follow, complementing the essential roles of inland shipping and rail transport.

Rina, in collaboration with SEA Aeroporti di Milano and the local branch of the Italian enterprises federation Confindustria, has launched the Hydrogen Valley Malpensa project – Italy's first hydrogen valley in an airport environment. The project's objective is to establish a complete hydrogen supply chain ecosystem by September 2027. Participants in the project include Air Pullman, Artelys, Circe, Emisia, and Lhyfe Labs, making it a collaborative effort involving various stakeholders.

Nuvera Fuel Cells has agreed to supply a hydrogen fuel cell system for a reachstacker developed by Hyster, which has been delivered to the Port of Valencia in Spain as part of the H2Ports project. This initiative aims to introduce hydrogen-powered vehicles and equipment into port operations. “The hydrogen is stored in high-pressure tanks and can be refilled less than 15 minutes,” said Nuvera Fuel Cells. “The hydrogen fuel cell charges the batteries, which power the electric motors and hydraulic systems, enabling the reachstacker to lift laden containers with comparable performance to a diesel alternative.”

Turkey has started talks with the United Arab Emirates to produce hydrogen and construct an offshore wind facility in Mediterranean waters. “We have a great potential in renewable energy, especially solar and wind,” Turkish Energy Minister Alparslan Bayraktar reportedly said. On social media, he outlined Turkey's energy goals: 42,000 MW of solar, 18,000 MW of wind, and 5,000 MW of offshore wind power by 2035. He also emphasized Turkey's focus on technology transfer in negotiations with Russia for a second nuclear power plant.

TotalEnergies and Air Liquide have signed an agreement for the long-term supply of green and low-carbon hydrogen to a TotalEnergies refining and petrochemical platform in Normandy, France. Air Liquide will build and operate the Normand'hy electrolyzer, with a total electrical capacity of 200 MW. TotalEnergies will supply around 700 GWh/year of “renewable and low carbon power” to the Air Liquide electrolyzer for half of its capacity.

TotalEnergies has also launched a call for tenders to supply 500,000 tons per year of green hydrogen by 2030. The French energy company will use it in its six European refineries in Antwerp (Belgium), Leuna (Germany), Zeeland (Netherlands), Normandy, Donges, and Feyzin (France), and its two biorefineries in La Mède and Grandpuits (France).

Everfuel has decided to prioritize green hydrogen production capacity development and reduce refueling network investments by high-grading its existing portfolio of refueling stations and projects. It said the decision follows a realignment of strategy, with a new focus on scaling green hydrogen production “to capture significant value creation opportunities led by recent market developments in Germany and Denmark.”

Europe depends heavily on imports of clean technologies such as solar photovoltaics or batteries.

“Recent events demonstrate that it would be naive to take the security of supply of critical raw materials, refined materials, components or clean-tech end products for granted,” German think tank Agora Energiewende said in the new “Ensuring resilience in Europe’s energy transition” report.

Europe's transition to climate neutrality requires a rapid increase in solar, onshore wind, offshore wind, batteries, heat pumps, and electrolyzers, said Agora Energiewende. Based on an analysis by Roland Berger, it recommends a package of measures to grow the EU's clean-tech manufacturing industry.

“Greater resilience will come from diversifying supplies through domestic extraction and international strategic partnerships, improving the circularity of materials, and increasing the production of clean technologies in Europe,” the report reads.

The analysis proposes minimum clean technology production quotas in the EU “as insurance against supply chain risks.”

“The technology-specific targets set in the Net Zero Industry Act for batteries, wind and electrolyzers are high and would require more public funding,” said Agora Energiewende.

Europe now needs a credible approach to close the production cost gap, reach acritical scale, and develop local supply networks.

“To ensure long-term competitiveness without support, dedicated public funding should be part of a broader policy package including access to finance, competition on quality (including sustainability), a robust pipeline for clean technologies and investments in innovation,” said Agora Energiewende.

It said EU countries should try to attract major clean technology suppliers to establish production in Europe.

“To achieve a gradual derisking of current value chain dependencies, offers of support should however be accompanied by guarantees that ensure a lasting commitment from companies deciding to establish production in Europe,” it said.

Agora Energiewende adds that the European Commission's reform proposal would lead to less aggressive fiscal consolidation in high-debt countries compared to the old rules.

“Unfortunately, the Commission's reform proposal does not sufficiently protect public investments, especially when it comes to a structural and permanent increase in public spending, as in the cases of industrial policy and climate change mitigation,” said Agora Energiewende. “For example, the proposed reform would require Italy to achieve a primary surplus of 2.8% to 3.2% of GDP by 2027, equivalent to a fiscal adjustment of €18 billion to €27 billion.”

H2FLY has completed what it calls “the world's first piloted flight of a liquid hydrogen-powered electric aircraft.” The flight near Maribor, Slovenia, is part of a test campaign. The Stuttgart-based company's HY4 demonstrator aircraft is a piloted plane with an electric fuel cell propulsion system powered by cryogenically stored liquid hydrogen. “Results of the test flights indicate that using liquid hydrogen in place of gaseous hydrogen will double the maximum range of the HY4 aircraft from 750 km to 1,500 km,” said H2FLY. It now wants to scale up its tech for regional aircraft. The test campaign also involves Air Liquide, Pipistrel Vertical Solutions, the German Aerospace Center, EKPO Fuel Cell Technologies, and Fundación Ayesa.

Solaris has secured several hydrogen bus orders in Italy. TPER, Bologna's municipal public transport operator, will purchase 130 Urbino12 hydrogen buses, with an option to extend the order by an additional 140 vehicles. The 70 kW fuel cell will derive hydrogen from five composite tanks on the bus roof. The full tanks can hold 37.5 kg of hydrogen. The first batch of 37 vehicles will be delivered in 2024, and the rest in the 2025-26 period. Venice's transport operator, Azienda Veneziana della Mobilità, has also ordered 90 hydrogen Solaris buses, with 75 of them being the 12-meter Urbino12 version. “These vehicles will be delivered to Venice gradually, starting from November 2025, and the deliveries will be completed in the first weeks of 2026,” said Solaris.

Tanaka has signed a technical assistance deal with Chengdu Guangming to bring its fuel cell electrode catalyst manufacturing technologies to China. The Japanese precious metals producer will install production equipment at the Ya'an Guangming Paite Precious Metal plant and intends to begin full-scale production in summer 2024. The companies aim to launch fuel cell electrode catalyst production for the Chinese market by the end of 2025. Tanaka is manufacturing electrode catalysts for polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells (PEFCs) and polymer electrolyte water electrolysis (PEWE) using platinum and iridium.

UHL has set up a joint venture with PWRH2 in Shenzhen, China, to sell hydrogen generators in Australia, the United Kingdom, Europe, and North America. UHL executed the deal through one company of its group, which now owns 35% of the Chinese production company. The Australia-based hydrogen conglomerate said it will target customers in the United Kingdom, North American, the Asia-Pacific, and Europe, given the advanced hydrogen infrastructure in these markets. It said that expanding its presence will be instrumental in achieving its planned stock listing in the fourth quarter of 2023.

NGEL, a wholly owned subsidiary of India's NTPC, has signed a deal with Nayara Energy to explore opportunities in the green hydrogen segment. NTPC is India's largest power utility, with a total installed capacity of more than 73 GW. 

Most solar module producers and inverter manufacturers have taken a significant beating on stock exchanges over the last few months, well before module capacity expansion announcements. Jenny Chase, solar analyst at BloombergNEF, said that there is an oversupply across the entire value chain.

“Module and polysilicon prices crashed,” Chase told pv magazine. “There is a lot of inventory of modules in different markets. That means that, although installations are still booming and there is no sign of slowing down, the prospects for individual companies are not generally good, as they are selling more at a lower profit.”

Polysilicon prices spiked to more than $30/kg throughout most of 2022. Since the start of this year, they have fallen from $30.50 to just around $9 today.

Chase said that supply has finally caught up with demand. She said polysilicon prices have had a significant impact on polysilicon makers.

Chase said that module prices were expected to decrease, but not to this extent. Module prices dropped from $0.22 to $0.24 at the beginning of the year to $0.15 today.

Rebecca McManus, renewables lead at Aurora Energy Research, agrees on the significant role played by the decline in polysilicon prices. She noted ongoing manufacturing capacity expansion in China, and plans to expand manufacturing capacity in Europe and North America.

“The rapid expansion of production capacity by Chinese manufacturers has outpaced the growth in demand,” McManus told pv magazine. “This is particularly relevant as prices there are normally two-thirds of the production prices in Europe.”

Similar European announcements are broadening the gap between supply and demand.

“There has been a big push for a more European-led manufacturing of the solar modules. Instead of importing from China, European countries want to produce 30 GW by 2025,” said McManus, noting that EU subsidy reforms are a crucial pillar of this EU strategy.

However, there is potentially another element to the EU plans.

“The new European policies could penalize developers not sourcing from Europe, but from China,” said McManus. “There is a geopolitical risk connected to that.”

The United States is a somewhat similar case, although with some differences. The US Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) provides opex support for local manufacturing capacity, while EU support is mostly capex-based.

“The IRA is incentivizing capacity manufacturing locally in the US, setting up funding for that,” said McManus. “The US has a large budget for encouraging local manufacturing.”

A second geopolitical risk is related to the supply chains, with China controlling most polysilicon production. Possible tensions could take a toll on European module manufacturers that rely on polysilicon imports from China.

On the other hand, geopolitical risks don’t simply have a bearish effect on stock prices. In some cases, they are pushing up the stock prices of American companies. While several US-based companies have seen the value of their stocks increase by up to 35%, Chinese players have seen decreases of up to 40% to 45%.

“First Solar is an index of US-China trade tensions at the moment. First Solar is expanding because the US has a trade war going on with China and it is trying to restore manufacturing,” said Chase. “Every time there is an intensification of the trade war First Solar is up.”

Other US solar companies are suffering, though – especially in the inverter and microinverter business.

“Some of that could be just that there are other microinverters coming into the market,” explained Chase. “When stock prices change, it does not necessarily mean that there is something bad that has happened to the company, but that the company is not doing as well as the investors expect they would.”

Nonetheless, European manufacturers are considering scaling up operations in the United States.

“Meyer Burger is reallocating the equipment it ordered for Europe to the Colorado factory. Basically, it has bet on the American market,” said Chase, adding that the company reported disappointing results due to the crash of Chinese module prices.

The idea is that Europe should pour more money into domestic manufacturing, especially if it anticipates an escalation of geopolitical tensions.

“US wants to keep the Chinese modules out. Europe has the more realistic goal of having some supply chain that is not Chinese, and ideally some in Europe, in case geopolitical tensions ramp up, so we don’t have a situation where the West is digging up things to burn, while China is running on solar and wind,” said Chase.

She said she feels more certain that European manufacturers will be getting major capex grants than she was six months ago. Still, doubts remain. “How much is that going to help if your opex is higher than the selling price of modules?”

McManus noted that technological developments can have a negative effect on stocks.

“As the technology is maturing, the actual installation costs increase. But there is another element: the size of the installation is changing,” said McManus. “The lifetime of the inverters will have an effect too. Previously, the usual lifetime for inverters was 12 to 15 years, now 25 to 30 years. There is also a similarity for modules. They will last longer and will be more efficient.”

But not everybody agrees.

“I don’t think that most companies tracking stock market investments care much about higher efficiency,” said Chase. “Although they want to invest in companies that have good manufacturing, which generally means being able to increase efficiency without increasing costs.”

Technische Universität Berlin researchers have determined that the most cost-effective strategy for achieving carbon neutrality in Europe by the mid-century involves expanding the power grid and establishing a hydrogen network. The study, titled “The potential role of a hydrogen network in Europe,” indicates that the hydrogen network, which can use existing gas pipelines, consistently reduces system costs. While power grid expansion achieves savings, the most significant cost reductions are achieved when both networks are expanded together.

Lhyfe and VSB Energies Nouvelles have signed a 16-year electricity supply contract. Under this agreement, Lhyfe Bretagne will receive 100% of the green electricity generated by VSB Energies Nouvelles' Buléon wind farm. The green hydrogen produced at the Buléon site will serve local mobility and industrial processes. The hydrogen production facility, with a capacity of 5 MW, is expected to be operational by late 2023.

Nortegas has successfully completed the third phase of tests for its H2SAREA project. During this phase, a mixture of 15% hydrogen and 85% natural gas was injected into a scaled replica of the company's distribution networks. This achievement demonstrates the technical feasibility of blending hydrogen and natural gas, paving the way for its short-term use. Nortegas aims to complete 20% blending tests before the end of 2023.

Germany's Oldenburg Trade Supervisory Office has granted approval for the construction and operation of two 100 MW electrolysers at RWE‘s Emsland natural gas power plant in Lingen. The 200 MW plant, the first of its size in Germany, can produce up to 35,000 metric tons of green hydrogen annually. RWE plans to establish hydrogen production capacities of 300 MW by 2027 and will commission a 14 MW pilot plant in Lingen by the end of 2023.

Thyssenkrupp nucera shares have been added to the SDAX selection index, which consists of the 70 largest and most liquid companies below the MDAX. With thyssenkrupp AG holding 50.2% of the shares, De Nora owning 25.9%, and Energy Solutions Company holding approximately 6%, thyssenkrupp nucera's free float is around 18%.

Plastic Omnium says it plans to construct North America's largest hydrogen storage manufacturing plant in Grand Blanc Township, Michigan. This $170 million investment aims to supply a major American automaker with high-pressure hydrogen vessels for medium and heavy-duty zero-emissions mobility. The facility, with an annual production capacity of up to 100,000 hydrogen vessels, is expected to be commissioned by the end of 2026 with the goal of achieving 100% carbon neutrality.

ACWA Power has signed strategic agreements with six Italian partners to bolster cooperation in green hydrogen, water desalination, and R&D. The Saudi Arabian energy company will consider cooperative opportunities with Eni in green hydrogen, renewables, and R&D in “sustainable” technologies. Industrie De Nora will provide ACWA Power with expertise in electrochemistry, focusing on water projects and green hydrogen applications. 

Toyota has unveiled its prototype Hilux hydrogen fuel cell electric vehicle, with an expected driving range of more than 600 km. “The ground-breaking pick-up was revealed at Toyota Manufacturing UK’s vehicle plant in Derby, England, where it has been developed in a joint project with consortium partners, supported by UK government funding,” said the Japanese carmaker. 

HDF Energy has started development studies to install the first green hydrogen power plant in Kenya. “The first Renewstable being developed by HDF in Kenya will see the deployment of 180 MW of solar PV combined with 500 MWh of long-term hydrogen-based storage, for an investment valued around $500 million,” said the French developer of green hydrogen projects, at the recent Africa Climate Summit in Nairobi.

The Port of Valencia has taken delivery of its first hydrogen-powered container stacker. The large machine – used in bulk material handling, developed by Hyster – will be assembled this week and will receive its first hydrogen charge. “This prototype joins the hydrogen-powered tractor unit and the mobile hydrogen supply station (HRS) which will be tested in real operating conditions in the Port of Valencia from this month until December 2024,” said the Port of Valencia.