Clean Hydrogen Progress’

Clean Hydrogen Progress From Across The Pond

 

Clean hydrogen could do some of the heavy lifting when it comes to helping the planet reach its 2050 net-zero targets. Estimates suggest that harnessing the power of clean hydrogen in industries, including steel, petrochemicals, maritime shipping, and aviation, could wipe out up to seven gigatons of annual CO2 emissions, accounting for more than 20% of the global emission reduction target. As these industries begin incorporating clean hydrogen into operations, the demand for highly skilled talent to support those efforts will grow.  

 

As part of their efforts to stay tuned into what’s happening on the clean hydrogen front, our Raise Recruiters like to keep abreast of what’s happening around the globe, including Europe, which is the current leader in clean hydrogen patents. Here are four of the industries with interesting movement in Europe that have caught their attention recently. 

 

Europe Eyes Steel Industry For Big Hydrogen Wins 

As an industry with one of the heaviest CO2 footprints, green hydrogen presents exciting opportunities for steelmakers. Green hydrogen is made using clean energy from surplus renewable energy sources, like solar or wind power, to electrolyze water. As the water is split into hydrogen and oxygen, zero carbon dioxide is emitted in the process. Today, this method of production is expensive, but just as prices for wind and solar energy have reduced, green hydrogen is expected to drop in price rapidly as it becomes more common. 

 

Over 50 green hydrogen steelmaking projects have been announced across the globe, with a large proportion of them located in Europe. In Europe, about 60% of steel production uses blast furnaces, with a tonne of steel creating about 1.9 tonnes of CO2 emissions. The other 40% of producers use natural gas-fired Direct Reduced Iron, with some using recycled scrap metal as feedstock. This already greener process presents an opportunity to make another environmental step forward by substituting natural gas with green hydrogen. 

 

H2 Green Steel will be Europe’s first commercial green steel plant. Scheduled to begin production by 2025, the plant, which is located in northern Sweden, will produce its own green hydrogen created from hydropower from the Lule River and nearby wind parks. H2 Green Steel has also signed an agreement with a Spanish company to build a solar-powered plant that will produce and feed green hydrogen on the Iberian Peninsula for green steel production.  

 

Petrochemical Industry Cracks The Code On Greener Processes 

Plastics, rubber, and fertilizers play a central role in modern manufacturing and agricultural processes, but they also tend to be crude oil- and natural gas-thirsty products. For the industry to reach net-zero emissions targets by 2050, direct emissions need to be reduced by 12% by 2030 and even more rapidly in the following decades.  

 

Steam cracking is a core technology in the petrochemical process that uses extreme heat to break down saturated hydrocarbons into smaller, unsaturated hydrocarbons to produce lighter alkenes, like ethylene and propylene. In an effort to reduce the emissions associated with this process, companies will begin to transition their steam crackers to be fueled by hydrogen. 

 

Project ONE, a new ethylene cracker that will be located in Belgium, represents Europe’s largest investment in the chemical sector for a generation. The plant’s carbon footprint will be three times lower than the average European steam cracker. In addition to operating entirely with low-carbon hydrogen, the plant has room for a carbon capture facility, and as enough green hydrogen becomes available, it will have a zero-carbon footprint. 

 

From Land To Sea 

As it charts a course toward a zero-emissions future, the maritime shipping industry, which accounts for one-quarter of all emissions from the global transportation sector, is also carefully investigating the potential of green hydrogen as a fuel alternative. European shipping giants, including Maersk, Mediterranean Shipping, and France’s CMA CGM, are all investing in carbon-neutral shipping technology. One of the advantages of hydrogen over other fuel alternatives is the ease with which existing ships can be retrofitted. Another advantage of particular significance to maritime shipping is that hydrogen can be stored in large amounts for long periods of time. According to the Global Maritime Forum, pilot projects using hydrogen as a fuel source for large ships tripled between 2019 and 2021. 

 

In 2023, the world’s first hydrogen-powered vessels set sail in Norway, Holland, and Paris. The MF Hydra, the world’s first liquid hydrogen-powered ferry, the FPS Waal, a retrofitted cargo vessel, and the Zulu06, the first inland cargo transport vessel, are all powered by Ballard Power System’s fuel cell modules.   

 

From Land To Sky 

Many players in the aviation industry are hopeful that the concept of hydrogen-powered airplanes is also about to take flight. Small planes with hydrogen fuel cells are already making test flights over the U.S. West Coast and English countryside. 

 

With commercial air travel accounting for over 2% of energy-related CO2 emissions, aircraft makers like Airbus and Boeing are hard at work developing hydrogen technologies to decrease the environmental impact of their planes. Airbus has dedicated Development Centres in France, the UK, Germany, and Spain, where teams are exploring both hydrogen-combustion and fuel-cell technologies and working on tanks and cryogenic fuel systems.   

 

Developing The Green Hydrogen Workforce 

Recognizing that the shift to green hydrogen will also fuel the need for upskilling and reskilling within the workforce, the European Union co-founded the GreenSkillsforH2 initiative. Their European Hydrogen Skills Strategy identifies the occupational profiles that will be in high demand, which include engineers and technicians specializing in chemical processes, industrial engineering, health and safety, and high-voltage electricity. 

 

North America is also preparing to scale up green hydrogen initiatives thanks to a new wave of policy support, like the Inflation Reduction Act and the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act.  Efforts to develop a workforce with the unique skillset to deliver on related projects, which include the building of six to ten clean hydrogen facilities across the United States, will be critical. 

 

According to research conducted by Rhodium Group, an average of 330 annual jobs are associated with a new 100 MW electrolytic hydrogen facility. The top five positions are metal workers and assemblers, legal workers, engineers, executive and business operations, and production workers. There are an additional 45 ongoing jobs associated with operating and maintaining the facility and related supplier activities. 

 

Jobs associated with the carbon capture retrofit of a conventional hydrogen production facility are expected to require an even larger workforce of approximately 520 jobs per year over the four-year construction period, with 80 ongoing jobs. The workforce requirements for these retrofit projects will be concentrated around the bulk of existing SMR facilities in the Gulf Coast, Midwest, and California. The collection of the 16 million metric tonnes of hydrogen from carbon capture that is expected to be needed by 2035 would require the support of 16,000 annual average plant jobs and an additional 2,560 jobs across the industry. 

 

To help bolster the workforce for the clean hydrogen projects ahead, educational institutions are rolling out creative new micro-credentials and learning opportunities. The University of Houston now offers a Hydrogen Economy Silver Belt to students who earn badges in the topics of hydrogen production, hydrogen transportation/safety/use, and the commercial opportunity for hydrogen. The University of Arizona introduced a Hydrogen Economy Fast Track that includes coursework and a culminating team project that is presented to industry partners. New Mexico’s Navajo Technical University, the largest tribal university in the U.S., has recently expanded its partnership with Los Alamos National Laboratory to establish a Hydrogen and Fuel Cells Technology Office Native American Fellowship. This pilot program offers lab internships and real-world research experiences related to additive manufacturing and advanced materials that are essential to the development of fuel cells. 

 

According to Raise Recruiter Jessica Matty, “We have an extensive network of existing talent with really strong backgrounds in the clean energy sector, but knowing how quickly things are moving in the green hydrogen space, we also keep a very close eye on what’s happening with programs at American and Canadian post-secondary educational institutions, like our student hiring program. Even if we don’t have an existing opportunity for a new grad right now, making those early connections allows us to continue to develop relationships with people as their careers progress and they gain experience that may make them a great fit for opportunities down the road. It’s a long-game strategy that delivers big wins!”