Ryze Hydrogen’s Suffolk Freeport Hydrogen Vision Takes Shape
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on S & P Global.
This is the introductory paragraph.
Ryze Hydrogen plans to install a 6 MW electrolyzer at the Sizewell nuclear site in Suffolk as a launchpad for mass production of low carbon hydrogen in and around the future freeport of Felixstowe, company founder Jo Bamford told S&P Global Platts March 3.
Ryze Hydrogen are building the Herne Bay electrolyser.
- It will consume 23 MW of solar and wind power.
- It will produce ten tonnes of hydrogen per day.
This would mean that Sizewell’s 6 MW electrolyser could be producing around a thousand tonnes of hydrogen per year or 2.6 tonnes per day.
Note that the port and the power station are only about thirty miles apart.
Suffolk is thinking big again!
The last part of the article is where Jo Bamford discusses the cost of hydrogen and hydrogen buses and how he intends to sell them to the UK and ultimately the world.
Suffolk and Jo Bamford appear to be made for each other, with complementary ambitions.
Biggest Mobile Hydrogen Fuel Cell In The World To Power Sergey Brin’s Mysterious Airship
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on Hydrogen Fuel News.
This is the introductory paragraph.
LTA Research and Exploration, the secretive and mysterious airship company owned by Google co-founder and former Alphabet President Sergey Brin, will use the biggest mobile hydrogen fuel cell in the world to power its disaster relief airship.
The size of the fuel cell appears to be 1.5 MW according to the Hydrogen Fuel News article.
The company has a web site with a title of The Future Off 21st Century Airships.
The web site talks about vision, focus and their response to Covid-19, so it is certainly not vapourware, although it seems to be more about building the team.
Conclusion
Sergey Brin has his heart in the right place
But he is ploughing a furrow, that has been attempted many times and sadly most attempts have ended in failure.
H2 Green Steel Plans 800 MW Hydrogen Plant In Sweden
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on montel.
The title says it all.
In Can The UK Have A Capacity To Create Five GW Of Green Hydrogen?, I said the following.
Ryze Hydrogen are building the Herne Bay electrolyser.
- It will consume 23 MW of solar and wind power.
- It will produce ten tonnes of hydrogen per day.
The electrolyser will consume 552 MWh to produce ten tonnes of hydrogen, so creating one tonne of hydrogen needs 55.2 MWh of electricity.
This would mean that H2 Green Steel’s electrolyser could be producing around one hundred and forty thousand tonnes of hydrogen per year or 380 tonnes per day.
What About Scunthorpe?
I very much believe that Scunthorpe in Lincolnshire, would be the ideal place for hydrogen steelmaking in the UK as I outlined in Green Hydrogen To Power First Zero Carbon Steel Plant.
So could 800 MW of electricity be available to produce the hydrogen in the area.
Currently, the world’s largest offshore wind farm is Hornsea One with a capacity of 1218 MW, which feeds into the National Grid at Killingholme.
This Google Map shows the distance between Scunthorpe and Killingholme.
Note.
- Scunthorpe is in the South-West corner of the map.
- Killingholme is in the North-East corner of the map.
The distance is about twenty miles.
When fully developed, the Hornsea Wind Farm is planned to have a capacity of 6 GW or 6000 MW, so there should be enough renewable energy.
Could The Hydrogen Be Created Offshore?
In ITM Power and Ørsted: Wind Turbine Electrolyser Integration, I wrote about combining wind turbines and electrolysers to create an offshore wind turbine, that generates hydrogen, rather than electricity.
This approach may be ideal for the later phases of the Hornsea Wind Farm.
- Redundant gas pipes can be used to bring the hydrogen ashore.
- Worked-out offshore gas fields can be used to store hydrogen.
- Worked-out gas fields in the area, are already being used to store natural gas from Norway.
- The hydrogen can be fed directly into the HumberZero hydrogen network.
But the main reason, is that some serious commentators feel it is more affordable approach in terms of capital and maintenance costs.
It is also easy to convert hydrogen back to zero-carbon electricity, if you have a handy gas-fired power station. There could be as many of three of these at Keadby.
Conclusion
It’s all coming together on Humberside.
Anything the Swedes can do, we can do better!
DHL Teams With Volvo Trucks To Speed Up Transition To Fossil-Free Trucking
The title of this post is the same as that of this article on CleanTechnica.
This is the introductory paragraph.
Electric buses, electric garbage trucks, and even electric construction equipment are becoming more and more commonplace in urban landscapes, but there’s still some debate over whether or not battery electric vehicles will take over open-road, long distance trucking any time soon. To help make the case that electric trucking is the way forward, DHL Freight and Volvo Trucks have partnered to speed up the introduction of heavy duty electric trucks to be used for regional transport throughout Sweden.
Read the article and see what you think.
The author takes the view that electric trucks may be able to handle heavy duty road transport and that would sideline expensive fuel cell trucks powered by hydrogen.
This is a paragraph.
If it’s successful, the move to battery electric trucking could be one of the final nails in the coffin of expensive hydrogen fuel cell projects like Nikola Trucks and Volvo’s own recently acquired Daimler truck division.
I am not so sure, that he is right!
Recently, I wrote Holyhead Hydrogen Hub Planned For Wales and Felixstowe And Harwich Ports Submit Bid For ‘Freeport’ Status, where hydrogen hubs are proposed at the posts of Holyhead and Felixstowe.
- This is a distance of 335 miles.
- As trucks average 55 mph on motorways and dual carriageways, this journey would take six hours.
- Six hours is the maximum time a truck driver can work without a break.
- Tesla have said that their battery Semi Truck will have a range of 300 or 500 miles.
I feel that this rough calculation shows that both electric and hydrogen trucks could handle the Felixstowe and Holyhead route.
- With the battery truck, the weight and size of the battery would probably reduce the payload.
- Factors like cost of ownership, payload and drivers hours would probably play a big part in the choice.
- Trucks would need to be refuelled at the start of the journey, if they’d just come off a ferry.
- On Tesla’s figures, recharging a battery truck would take thirty minutes.
Once we start looking at practical journeys like say Cologne and Dublin, if you want to do it with one truck, it has to be hydrogen.
But a container between Felixstowe and Holyhead could probably be handled by an electric truck.
If you look at between Dover and Holyhead, that is 370 miles and at 55 mph, it would take almost seven hours. So the driver would need a break.
Conclusion
There will need to be extensive modelling to decide, what type of truck is best for a particular route, operator and cargo.
Daimler’s Philosophy
In Daimler Trucks Presents Technology Strategy For Electrification – World Premiere Of Mercedes-Benz Fuel-Cell Concept Truck, I examined Daimler’s strategy for hydrogen and electric trucks.
This is a summary of their philosophy.
- Mercedes-Benz GenH2 Truck, a fuel-cell truck with a range of up to 1,000 kilometres and more for flexible and demanding long-haul transport – customer trials in 2023, start of series production in second half of this decade.
- Mercedes-Benz eActros LongHaul, a battery-electric truck with a range of about 500 kilometres for energy-efficient transport on plannable long-haul routes – projected to be ready for series production in 2024.
- Mercedes-Benz eActros, a battery-electric truck with a range of well over 200 kilometres for heavy urban distribution to go into series production in 2021.
Note.
- 500 kilometres is 310 miles,
- The Mercedes-Benz eActros LongHaul will be able to handle Dover or Felixstowe and Holyhead with a thirty minute driver break/battery charge somewhere in the Midlands.
- The Mercedes-Benz GenH2 Truck will be able to handle Dover or Felixstowe and Holyhead without refuelling.
- The Mercedes-Benz GenH2 Truck will be able to handle a 620 mile out-and-back journey from Dover or Felixstowe without refuelling. This would allow journeys to Birmingham, Derby, Leeds, Liverpool, Manchester, Nottingham and Sheffield
The flexibility built into Daimler’s philosophy is probably a sensible approach and ideal for truck journeys from Dover and Felixstowe.
Daimler would appear to have done a lot of modelling.
Felixstowe And Harwich Ports Submit Bid For ‘Freeport’ Status
The title of this post is the same as this article on the BBC.
These are the first three paragraphs.
A bid for “freeport” status for two existing ports has been submitted after the project was approved by a council.
East Suffolk Council unanimously backed the bid for the Port of Felixstowe and Harwich International to become one of 10 freeport facilities across the UK.
Freeport East would see owners Hutchison operate a single custom zone covering both coastal ports.
I think, some will think this a bit cheeky, but I think it is a product of the characters of the counties of Essex and Suffolk.
I was conceived in Suffolk and have probably spent half my life in the county.
It’s a county that thinks big.
- Is there another woman, who as Boudica did, assembled an army of hundreds of thousands and attempted to throw an unwelcome invader out of her country?
- The history of her tribe; the Iceni is closely tied, according to some historians, to the development of the thoroughbred racehorse at New Horse Market or Newmarket as it is known today!
- Newmarket is to horse racing as St. Andrews is to golf.
- The town is home of about 3,500 horses and is a major centre for horse and animal health.
- Newmarket Heath is a Site of Special Scientific Interest and is to be the largest area of mown grass in the world.
- Suffolk sheep are one of the most numerous sheep breeds in the world, having been exported all over the world.
- Suffolk is the only county in England with its own breed of sheep, cattle (Red Poll) and horse (Suffolk Horse)
- Bury St. Edmunds Abbey was one of the largest churches in England.
When I was about seven, the Port of Felixstowe was just a small dock exporting grain and now it the busiest container port in the UK and the eighth in Europe.
It is no surprise to me, that Felixstowe and Harwich want to be a Freeport, so they can expand further.
There have already been related news and media reports.
Freeport East Web Site
The Freeport East web site is at www.freeporteast.com.
Read these sections.
It is an ambitious vision. As someone, who believes we must innovate, this paragraph from the Innovation section strikes the right tone.
Beyond the energy sector, Freeport East will also contribute to wider innovation in the technology sector. Hutchison Ports is already working with Cambridge University and Three UK to develop innovative 5G applications. Hutchison Ports is also working with the New Anglia LEP, Tech East and BT’s research centre at Adastral Park on new telecommunications infrastructure. Freeport East will embed these technological innovations at its heart and help to make the UK a world leader in technological innovation
The web site, also talks about the ports becoming major centres for the development and servicing of renewable energy in the North Sea.
A Little Help From Their Friends
I notice that in some reports, they have joined forces with the University of Cambridge. As Cambridge colleges are big local landowners, this can only be to the benefit of the concept.
A Hydrogen Freeport
This article on the Eadt Anglian Daily Times is entitled Top Ports Could Be Powered By Hydrogen In Major Project.
The project is well-described in the article with this infographic, that shows how nuclear power from Siewell and wind power from the North Sea can come together to decarbonise shipping and the port.
This paragraph sums up the hydrogen project.
At its peak, the power project, which will be delivered in partnership with Ryze-Hydrogen and EDF, developers of the proposed Sizewell C nuclear power station, will produce 1GW of hydrogen – 20% of the 5GW target in the Prime Minister’s Ten Point Plan for a Green Industrial Revolution.
Suffolk is thinking big again!
It certainly does appear, that several ports are following the hydrogen route. On this blog I have mentioned Antwerp, Holyhead and Portsmouth recently.
So what will the hydrogen be used for?
The East Anglian article says this.
The clean fuel would be used to power port equipment, ships, trucks and trains.
Port Equipment
I think the interesting one is port equipment.
- The chairman of JCB is Anthony Bamford.
- His son; Jo Bamford owns Ryze Hydrogen.
- JCB have recently released a hydrogen-powered digger.
- JCB is mentioned on the infographic.
Could we be seeing a range of hydrogen-powered port equipment, that has been developed by JCB?
Other companies like Hyster are certainly developing hydrogen-powered port equipment.
Ships
Decarbonisation of ships is difficult, as they need a lot of power and it usually comes from that most noxious of fuels; bunker oil.
The Wikipedia entry for bunker oil, has a section called Environmental Issues, where this is said.
Emissions from bunker fuel burning in ships contribute to air pollution levels in many port cities, especially where the emissions from industry and road traffic have been controlled. The switch of auxiliary engines from heavy fuel oil to diesel oil at berth can result in large emission reductions, especially for SO2 and PM. CO2 emissions from bunker fuels sold are not added to national GHG emissions. For small countries with large international ports, there is an important difference between the emissions in territorial waters and the total emissions of the fuel sold.
A lot of work is being done to power ships with hydrogen.
Provide refuelling for hydrogen-powered ships and you’ll get the business.
Trucks
Diesel trucks hauling goods to and from ports contribute to the pollution in the port, but if they are powered by hydrogen, the pollution for workers and neighbours is less.
I can see some freight terminals adopting a policy of No Hydrogen – No Load, with hauliers.
In Holyhead Hydrogen Hub Planned For Wales, I talked about a hydrogen hub at Holyhead. Will the ports of Dover, Felixstowe and Immingham need to have hydrogen refuelling facilities to handle hydrogen trucks hauling goods between the island of Ireland and Europe?
Trains
It is my belief, that hydrogen freight locomotives will be developed, so Felixstowe will need facilities to fuel the trains.
Imagine two highly-automated ports at Felixstowe and Holyhead, both with large supplies of hydrogen.
- A hydrogen-powered freight train would link the two ports.
- Hydrogen-powered handling equipment would load and unload the containers.
How many trucks would that take off the roads between Holyhead and Felixstowe?
Conclusion
The Port of Felixstowe is going to use hydrogen to become more efficient and zero-carbon, and make it more attractive to shippers wanting to pay more than lip-service to decarbonisation.
The EU have constantly accused Boris of turning the UK into Singapore-on-Thames!
But here we are creating Singaport-on-the-Haven.
The EU has freeports, so I guess it’s OK.
Holyhead Hydrogen Hub Planned For Wales
The title of this post is the same as that of this article on H2 View.
This is the introductory paragraph.
Plans for a new hydrogen production plant, refuelling and distribution hub have been unveiled for Holyhead, North Wales.
Some other points from the article.
- Unsurprisingly, it will be called the Holyhead Hydrogen Hub.
- Holyhead is the second largest roll-on, roll-off port in the UK.
- There is plenty of potential for renewable energy in the area.
- It will support the port and large scale movements of HGVs.
- There is plenty of potential for renewable energy in the area.
- The hydrogen in future could support trains, ships, public transport and other uses.
In the last year, I’ve read about hydrogen hubs in ports, including Portsmouth and Antwerp, so Holyhead is just following a trend.
Buses Should Have Flat Floors
These pictures were taken inside the lower-deck of one of London’s New Routemaster buses.
Now compare them with pictures taken on the lower deck of one of London’s other hybrid buses, similar to those you see all around the UK.
Note.
- The floor of the New Routemaster is continuous and flat. The only steps are the stairs and up into the sets of four seats.
- The floor of the hybrid bus, which was built on a standard Volvo chassis has several steps.
Recently, when carrying a full bag of shopping down the stairs on the hybrid bus, the driver accelerated away and I fell and banged my knee. Because of the flat floor, it is less likely, I’d have a similar problem on the New Routemaster.
Why Does The Routemaster Have A Flat Floor?
When Wrightbus designed the Routemaster, they had a clean sheet of paper and weren’t constrained to use a proprietary chassis.
- The 18 kWh traction battery is under the front stairs.
- The traction motor is under the floor, in the middle of the bus.
- The small diesel generator is mounted halfway up the back stairs.
- The bus has full regenerative braking to the battery.
Using a standard Volvo chassis might be cheaper, but there can’t be a flat floor.
Will The Wrightbus Hydrogen Bus Have A Flat Floor?
The Wrightbus StreetDeck FCEV is the Wrightbus hydrogen bus and it has entered service in Aberdeen.
It looks to be about half flat floor, but not as good as the Routemaster.
Hopefully, I’ll ride in one soon.
Are Hydrogen-Fuelled Vehicles A Waste Of Our Time And Energy?
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on Engineering & Technology, which is the magazine of the Institution of Engineering and Technology. So it should be authoritative.
This is the concluding paragraph.
Cars account for 61 per cent of surface transport emissions, HGVs only 17 per cent, buses 3 per cent, and rail 2 per cent (CCC, December 2020) so for cost/benefit it cannot be worthwhile switching to hydrogen fuel cell buses and trains. Through any impartial lens of engineering science, hydrogen fuel cell cars do not appear to be a transport winner and the Government should revisit decisions it has made about related funding. But then there is political virtue signalling.
It is a must-read contribution to the debate, as to whether hydrogen or battery power, is best for surface transport.
I don’t believe there is a simple answer, because for some applications, battery electric power is not feasible because of reasons of power or range.
- Would a battery-electric truck, be able to haul a forty-four tonne load between the Channel Tunnel and Scotland?
- Would a battery-electric locomotive be able to haul a thousand tonne aggregate or stone train for anything but a few tens of miles?
- Is it possible to design a a battery-electric double-deck bus, that can carry seventy passengers?
I believe there are applications, where battery-electric is not a feasible alternative to the current diesel traction.
It is worth noting, that truck-maker; Daimler is planning to have both battery and hydrogen heavy trucks in its product line.
Users will choose, what is the best zero-carbon transport for their needs.
The Black Cab Driver’s Answer
It is always said, that, if you want to know the answer to a difficult question, you ask the opinion of a black cab driver.
So as the new electric black taxis, are the most common electric vehicle, that the average Londoner uses, what do the guys up-front say about their expensive vehicles.
- Regularly, cab drivers complain to me about the range and having to use the diesel engine to charge the battery or power the car.
- Some suggest to me, that hydrogen might be a better way to make the vehicles zero-carbon.
I think they may have a point about hydrogen being a better method of powering a black taxi, when you look at the pattern of journeys and the battery size and charging limitations of the vehicle.
These limitations may reduce in the future, as the technology gets better, with higher density batteries and faster charging.
We could even see a design and sales war between battery and hydrogen black cabs.
It always pays to follow the money!
Sale To Linde Of World’s Largest PEM Electrolyser
The title of this post, is the same as that of this press release on the ITM Power web site.
This is the first paragraph.
ITM Power, the energy storage and clean fuel company, is pleased to announce the sale to Linde of a 24MW electrolyser to be installed at the Leuna Chemical Complex in Germany.
Note.
- Leuna is a few miles to the West of Leipzig.
- As it’s green hydrogen, I would hope it’s not powered with electricity from coal.
I bet they’re pleased.
I said a similar thing, when they got funding for an 8 MW monster, that I wrote about in Funding Award to Supply An 8MW Electrolyser.
The press release says this about the electrolyser.
This new 24 megawatt electrolyzer will produce green hydrogen to supply Linde’s industrial customers through the company’s existing pipeline network. In addition, Linde will distribute liquefied green hydrogen to refueling stations and other industrial customers in the region. The total green hydrogen being produced can fuel approximately six hundred fuel cell buses driving 40 million kilometers and saving up to 40,000 tons of carbon dioxide tailpipe emissions per year.
In Can The UK Have A Capacity To Create Five GW Of Green Hydrogen?, I said the following.
Ryze Hydrogen are building the Herne Bay electrolyser.
- It will consume 23 MW of solar and wind power.
- It will produce ten tonnes of hydrogen per day.
The electrolyser will consume 552 MWh to produce ten tonnes of hydrogen, so creating one tonne of hydrogen needs 55.2 MWh of electricity.
This would mean that the Leuna electrolyser could be producing nearly four thousand tonnes of hydrogen per year.
Does this mean that every tonne of hydrogen saves ten tonnes of carbon dioxide tailpipe emissions?
AW-Energy Oy Brings Wave Energy Technology To Green Hydrogen
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on Hydrogen Fuel News.
This is a sub-title.
The company is introducing a new process combining its WaveRoller and HydrogenHub.
It would appear that by combining the two products, AW-Energy can create green hydrogen from wave power.
This page on the AW-Energy web site describes the WaveRoller.
This sentence describes what it does.
The WaveRoller is a device that converts ocean wave energy to electricity.
This page on the AW-Energy web site describes the company’s hydrogen expertise.
It looks to be an interesting combination.
The Anonymous Widower 