Specialist
Former VP at Linde plc (Praxair Inc)
Agenda
- Grey vs blue vs green hydrogen, discussing technology and cost breakdown for latter two forms
- Industrial gas players in hydrogen and ongoing projects
- Growth in hydrogen end markets, viability and development
- Distribution infrastructure development, including hydrogen fuel stations
Questions
1.
What’s happening in the grey hydrogen business? What are typical SMR [steam methane reforming] costs, and how have those changed?
2.
What do you see as some of the key trends on the demand side in terms of grey hydrogen? What are some of the things we should be looking at in that market?
3.
You mentioned general industry refining applications. Does hydrogen benefit in any way from the high natural gas prices, as in some customers – maybe refineries, crackers and furnaces – are seeing some fuel switching?
4.
Is there anything unique about today’s refining environment that makes a big difference for the hydrogen market? I know some of the refiners are self-generating hydrogen, but do the high-throughput rates that you’re seeing create some demand? Are refiners looking at selling their own hydrogen elsewhere?
5.
Blue hydrogen costs that I’ve seen are about 15% higher than for grey hydrogen. Could you give us some background on that process and what goes into those costs?
6.
Is it easy to convert a facility from grey to blue hydrogen? Do you have a rough familiarity with some of the CAPEX that may go into that?
7.
Who’s in the market for blue hydrogen at the moment? Is this being driven primarily by refiners’ carbon intensity obligations, LCFS [Low Carbon Fuel Standard] and so on? Is it ESG at chemical companies and plants?
8.
You mentioned that you may as well just go to green hydrogen if you were considering a facility conversion. If it’s somewhere on the Gulf Coast, how does the trade-off with power prices look? Can you get cheap enough power there? What would that mean for carbon intensity and cost overall?
9.
Could green hydrogen create a situation where you see a lot of people on the Gulf Coast clamouring for renewable energy PPAs [power purchase agreements] or building on-site forms of energy management? Is that a market that has a chance of exploding?
10.
Could you break down green hydrogen costs, including CAPEX, OPEX and equipment components? I believe green hydrogen production potentially costs around USD 4-6 per kilogram at the moment.
11.
Will green hydrogen costs come down any time soon? What are some of the opportunities for that to become cheaper? You mentioned the power side is a determinant, and I can definitely see that. On the other side, are the capital costs decreasing? Could anything become cheaper over a five-year horizon?
12.
Are any smaller players demonstrating interesting technology? Is PEM [polymer electrolyte membrane] the future? Is there a need to branch out into alkaline, solid oxide and other options?
13.
Is there a challenge to scaling green hydrogen plants and electrolysers? Are there limits on how big you can make such a facility?
14.
Are liquefaction costs changing? Is that a significant driver of energy demand?
15.
How do liquefaction costs compare to compression cost? Does the 1MW of SMR cost you cited include the compression or not?
16.
Do hydrogen economics roughly work out for commercial trucking, agricultural equipment or other areas at this point?
17.
It’s so expensive to make hydrogen in California, and yet the LCFS is lucrative, so how do you transport it without incurring too much carbon intensity? How do people approach that problem with California specifically?
18.
What’s been the balance between liquid and compressed hydrogen? Is liquid still necessary? How does that shake out?
19.
What are you seeing around hydrogen fuel station development? Is there anything else that we should be paying attention to in terms of hydrogen refuelling or vehicles?
20.
Do you have any final thoughts on the North America hydrogen market?
