RE: Climate Report - H2 Trailblazers9 May 2019 18:35
report cont)
This prediction implies the country will need to build up to 567 megawatts of electrolysis per year for 30 years.
Implications for companies
Such a ramping up of hydrogen facilities across industry, energy and transport is expected to translate into a pick-up for a range of UK-listed companies, which is why investors such as Schroders has been stacking up investments in this sub-sector of the cleantech area.
One of Schroders investments is in AIM-listed ITM Power, which makes electrolyser technology that is already being taken up in consumer and industrial applications. One of these is a collaboration where Royal Dutch Shell PLC (LON:RDSB) is rolling out hydrogen refuelling stations using ITM tech for passenger and commercial vehicles over the next five years.
Reflecting on the CCC report, ITM chief executive Graham Cooley said: “For the first time, the UK has accepted they will need shedloads of the equipment that we make. It’s the first time that the numbers have been officially run on how much power is needed for a full renewable network and energy storage.”
However, 2050 is a long, long way away.
“Yes, it is a long time,” Cooley acknowledged, “unless you think about how much equipment the country needs before then. With more than 550MW needed per year and each megawatt costing about €1mln,” says Cooley. “The numbers are very, very large – there will need to be around €0.5bn spent on average every year for 30 years to get to zero emissions.”
This is echoed in the CCC report, which said the government “should legislate as soon as possible” and that its target is “only credible if policy to reduce emissions ramps up significantly”.
“Hydrogen is the only solution”
With the electricity grid almost at full stretch now and the commission estimating that all new cars and vans should be electric within 16 years, “there is no way the grid can cope with that amount of extra demand”, says Adam Bond, chief executive of AFC Energy, developer of an electric vehicle charger based on its hydrogen fuel-cell technology.
“Hydrogen is the only solution to meet the demand,” Bond said, “and that is why the climate change report mentioned it on almost every page.”
AFC last month signed a deal with Rolec Services, one of Europe’s largest manufacturers of EV charging points, to create a system that integrates AFC’s technology and can be sold across Rolec's existing and AFC’s emerging network of EV charging distributors and customers.
Another name worth noting on AIM’s long-bubbling hydrogen scene is Ceres Power Holdings PLC (LON:CWR), which has developed a technology it has branded SteelCell. This technology, which can use natural gas, hydrogen or biofuel, overcomes two problems traditionally associated with other solid oxide fuel cells, namely cost and lack of robustness.
In a March update, Ceres said it was on track to double revenues this year as it accelerated commercial growth in the six months to 31 December, inki
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