The 'North meets North Hydrogen Dialogue' aims to explore the tale of two Hydrogen Powerhouses, bringing together companies, investors, policy-makers and other stakeholders from England’s north (‘The Northern Powerhouse’) and five northern German states - Bremen, Hamburg, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Niedersachsen and Schleswig-Holstein (‘The HY-5 Alliance’). We will explore policy support, discuss strategic similarities and synergies, debate differences and attempt to deep-dive into specific business cases and supply chain challenges.

With focus on areas for cooperation, including a short outline of Germany’s/ Northern Germany’s hydrogen strategy + recent major developments and their impact on accelerating the transition to hydrogen, opportunities for collaboration.

Whilst most of the conversation starts with hydrogen production and end-use, infrastructure to support development of hydrogen supply chain will be critical. It will entail vast storage needs at various stages of the value chain, to cope with variability of production and offtake patterns and ensure security of supply. A wide range of storage solutions do exist or are in development to cover all these needs, covering various sizes, from kilograms up to thousands of tons of H2, and diverse storage systems, from cylinders to storage in tubulars, all the way to geologic reservoirs like salt caverns. With always safety as first focus, Vallourec’s team are also mastering the technical challenges posed by hydrogen, like high pressures, embrittlement of steel materials or tightness of the connections. This is instrumental to develop and qualify the needed storage systems, combining safety, tight containment, longevity, and TCO, and ultimately contributing to robust and cost-effective hydrogen supply chain.

The industrial partners in northwest Germany are striving for a market-relevant integration and scaling of hydrogen technology into the German and European energy system with their "Clean Hydrogen Coastline" project. Clean Hydrogen Coastline is a network of partners across the entire value chain of the hydrogen industry. By 2026, the companies want to integrate up to 400 megawatts of electrolysis capacity with corresponding storage of hydrogen into the energy system in a targeted manner.

The Northern Powerhouse, the birthplace of the first industrial revolution, is host to some of the most advanced hydrogen and carbon capture, utilisation and storage projects in the UK. During her presentation, Daniella Carneiro, a hydrogen specialist at the UK’s Department for International Trade, will highlight major emerging hydrogen clusters in the Northern Powerhouse and discuss supportive policies to promote the rapid ramp-up of hydrogen production and usage.

This presentation will focus on the massive European scale-up opportunity from an electrolyser manufacturer’s perspective. ITM Power manufactures integrated hydrogen energy solutions for grid balancing, energy storage and the production of green hydrogen for transport, renewable heat and chemicals. Germany, as an early adopter of hydrogen systems, has for many years been an important market for ITM Power, which is based in the Northern Powerhouse and was the first hydrogen-related business to be listed on the London Stock Exchange in 2004.

A view of hydrogen demand and the value chain depicting current and future applications and technologies. An explanation of how the hydrogen economy and decarbonization will drive pipeline and storage infrastructure and how these requirements can be met with compression technologies.

The Energy Transition will require various technologies to bridge the gap to 2050 and beyond as we continue to work towards achievement of net zero carbon emissions. Hydrogen is expected to play a key role in this effort, although there are many challenges, including a requirement for significant financial investment. Considerations include the role of government and regulations, the availability of transportation and storage options and infrastructure, and the sustainability of various methods of hydrogen production. One new, innovative and clean method of hydrogen production is by a chemical looping process which can produce hydrogen while isolating CO2 for capture, transportation, storage or beneficial use.

The war in Ukraine and the dependence on Russian energy by European nations has hastened the drive for energy transition, as more countries look to reduce their reliance on Russian gas. This session highlights the important role hydrogen plays in energy security and economic growth, especially as nations around the world seek to wean themselves from foreign supplies of oil and gas.

Hydrogen can contribute to a fifth of global CO2 abatement by 2050 and is a critical decarbonisation lever to achieve net zero (ref: Hydrogen Council). To get there, technology is required across the value chain to make, access, and use low-carbon hydrogen at scale.

Replacement of fossil fuels is much larger than an energy transition; it is actually closer to terra-forming. Every aspect of our lives will be impacted and we have to look at the bigger picture to manage the best outcomes. Consideration will be given to the rhetoric versus reality of global transition, likely impacts and potential pitfalls to the current fragmented strategies. It is commonplace to plan from an industrial nation’s point of view but how does that apply to subsistence farmers or small island communities? The aim is to move our leaders on from climate blame to transition solutions that benefit all of our species and, most importantly, our home – the Earth.

This session will discuss what it takes to get large-scale hydrogen projects off the ground, when the market and technologies are not yet fully mature. Hydrogen & Power-to-X is gaining ground and scaling at rapid speed – and there is tremendous potential for hydrogen and Power-to-X to be key drivers of the green transition.

Scaling green hydrogen production from few kilo-watts to giga-watt scale requires intense efforts in terms of analysis around electrical designs, electrolyser selection and optimization across the complete value chain. Technologies like digital twins which help in analysis of hybrid electrical networks and the process needs are helping engineering companies to design the green hydrogen production facilities which are fit for purpose and scalable. Similarly, automation with integrated architecture helps in managing the complete production cycle from choosing the cheapest energy source to management of intermittency of power generation and associated downstream continuous process. Digital twins developed during design phase support efficiency improvement during operate and maintain phase supporting energy optimization and reduced unscheduled downtime. We will discuss how during different phases of the project, such digital solutions help de-risk the projects, improve performance and reduce overall cost.

Hydrogen is a promising energy vector for the energy industry, and thus of importance for EnBW as well. The expected gas demand in Germany could be replaced by green gases, especially hydrogen, in the long term. Green hydrogen (hydrogen from electrolysis of water with renewable electricity) is the most expensive of all production methods, is on the other hand politically preferred ("system change"), since no fossil fuels are used for production. The H2-technologies are relative mature and commercially available, but not yet widely used in the energy industry. With numerous pilot and demonstration projects along the entire value chain, EnBW is striving to build up know-how in this area. One example is the project “living laboratory H2-Wyhlen".

For a green hydrogen economy to grow and function, we need to create a whole value chain. In Lower Saxony, there are already more than 80 projects in the works. This presentation will take a closer look at the hydrogen value chain in Lower Saxony and present best practices: from import, electrolysis and infrastructure projects to consumers, e.g. in the steel industry.

Together with representatives from EWE, Energy Hub Wilhelmshaven and Hydrogen Campus Salzgitter, Niedersächsisches Wasserstoff-Netzwerk will discuss what needs to be done to connect hydrogen clusters to create a whole value chain. We’ll also look if the “Deutschlandgeschwindigkeit” (German velocity) is speeding up the energy transition fast enough. And a call to the new government in Lower Saxony: How financial aid, speed and further cooperation is needed to reduce CAPEX risks and ensure a functioning value chain.

The paper will draw on Europe’s 50 years’ experience with long-term natural gas contracts and identify parallels and differences with the future hydrogen contracts. It will address how price-indexation might work and how the credit-rating of potential offtakers could affect the trade. Carbon Contracts for Difference are expected to cover the additional costs for green products as compared to conventional products but exactly how these will be constructed and connect with the hydrogen contracts still needs to be addressed. The paper will consider a number of open questions and suggest how they might be resolved.

Offshore hydrogen will enable the significant scaling up of offshore wind and hydrogen production, producing hydrogen at the green power source with a variety of transportation options for both domestic use and export. RWE has a clear ambition to provide sustainable long-term green hydrogen production options, and a development target of 1 GW of offshore wind coupled with hydrogen capacity by 2030 is being pursued, with a vision of GW-scale off grid offshore H2 production by the early 2030s. This presentation will give further detail of our ambitions and our on-track, offshore hydrogen projects.

We are going to talk about technology agnostic optimization of energetic solution in function of energy and molecules demand for decarbonation in the projects from kW to GW scale. Moreover, we will share our experience from executed projects, the risks and mitigation measures.

Introduction of the Inn2POWER Interreg North Sea Region project: The aim of our project is to expand the capacity for innovation and to improve access to the offshore wind industry and green hydrogen for SMEs by connecting offshore wind and green hydrogen businesses in the North Sea Region.

Hydrogen, produced decentrally using electrical energy from renewable sources, will play a key role in local energy supply with decentralized microgrids in the future. In addition to the climate-friendly extraction of hydrogen for energy storage with electrolysers, this includes its subsequent use in energy systems based on fuel cells or on hydrogen combustion engines. Further processing of the hydrogen into gaseous or liquid synthetic fuels is also conceivable. With Rolls-Royce's technology portfolio including electrolysers, we aim to provide the green fuels as well as cover end-user applications with fuel cells, H2-Engines, methanol Engines.

The UK Government is pushing ahead with its ambition to deliver 5GW of low carbon hydrogen capacity by 2030 by introducing the Low Carbon Hydrogen Business Model. This comes with some challenges to the energy supply of projects looking to participate in the scheme in securing competitive pricing over the term as well as guaranteeing their supply qualifies as low carbon. As a leading integrator of renewables supply and industrial demand, Statkraft is trying to offer solutions to overcoming these challenges in an evolving regulatory environment.

As governments, industry experts and the private sector continue to invest in hydrogen technology more and more every day - This session highlights the requirements needed for a clean hydrogen economy to flourish and collaborative approaches seen in industry today. The session will also highlight the regulatory framework and market instruments needed to incentivise the use of renewable and low-carbon H2 and increase its cost-competitiveness.

The world needs electrolytic (green / renewable) hydrogen. Exactly how much can be debated, but that it will have a significant role to play in the energy transition is beyond doubt. Proton Exchange Membrane (PEM) electrolysis is one of the technologies used to produce electrolytic hydrogen, and to do so it uses platinum group metals (PGMs) called iridium and platinum. If supply chains work together effectively and iridium is actively managed, PEM electrolyser growth ambitions should be realised both to 2030 and beyond.

An energy supply system that reliably supplies households, industry and commerce without fossil baseload power plants - how will this work? In a 100% renewable scenario, we assume that there are no more baseload power plants. The energy supply for electricity and heat depends solely on renewable volatile sources like PV and wind but also energy from sustainable materials such as wood and other biomass. In any case, the energy supply must be reliable and affordable for all sectors and regions at any time. In order to find the right solution, we need to change our mind set. Instead of starting from current bidirectional solutions, we have to think in terms of meshed functions and value streams. Using the example of the district of Wunsiedel in the Fichtelgebirge, we would like to show a possible solution for such a renewable scenario enabled by digitalization and an 8.5 MW Electrolyze system for sector coupling.

Hydrogen generation by electrolysis will play an important role as a crosslinking technology between power generation on one hand and transport and industry on the other hand. When produced by water electrolysis from renewable energies - such as solar or wind - hydrogen can directly replace fossil fuels in transport and industry, thereby helping in the integration of renewable energies in other energy sectors. The relevant technologies are either the mature alkaline water electrolysis (AEL), the newer proton exchange membrane (PEMEL) water electrolysis, or the less-mature high-temperature solid oxide electrolysis (SOEL). The AEL has the benefit of using inexpensive materials and a superb durability record, whereas the PEMEL can excel with small footprint, high current densities and simplified system design. SOEL has the potential of highest electrical efficiencies when high-temperature heat is available but still requires scale-up efforts for reaching MW power levels.

ABB successfully performed a study of 100MW factory building block fed with renewable power, with support of HydrogenPro and in collaboration with Equinor. The study show that it is possible to run a large-scale hydrogen system fed by 100% renewable power in off grid mode. The variations in the wind pose great challenges for stabilizing and balancing active and reactive power. Through careful system design and control implementation, it is possible to regulate the system with only a modest size of battery capacity of roughly 10% of the installed capacity of electrolyzers. It is found that the variability and quality of the wind resource not only affects the total hydrogen production, but also the required balance of plant design. Over the course of a year, the hydrogen plant will only intermittently be offline and operate for a considerable amount of the time in a high production state. For the considered wind resource and relative sizes between wind and electrolyzer power, the electrolyzer trains’ utilization is around 77% over the course of a year. The results of this work show that the large-scale hydrogen system is a promising prospect for accelerating the energy transition while improving energy security in the world.

How to make use of the waste heat generated in green hydrogen production while increasing the efficiency? There is no single of simple solution to reduce the worlds emission of carbon dioxides – many technologies and fuels have a part to play across all sectors of the economy. Energy efficiency will be one of the main contributors to reach the Paris agreement and can stand for 40% of the emission reductions in the next 20 years according to IEA. The technologies to make our existing industry more sustainable through energy efficiency already exists today. However to reach a Net-Zero 2050 – according to IEA almost half of the emission reductions will come from technologies that are in prototype or demonstrations phase today. Green hydrogen, carbon capture, long-duration energy storage, all of them will need a lot of investments to become reality. In a Net-Zero 2050 scenario, 22% of the world’s energy demand could be made up of clean hydrogen. In order to enable and accelerate the massive deployment of the hydrogen industry it is necessary to reduce costs and increase efficiency of the processes. Looking at the complete hydrogen value chain, there are multiple areas where innovative heat transfer is needed in the processes, and an important factor is increasing the systems efficiency is to optimize utilization of the heat and avoid heat losses. Looking specifically at the green hydrogen production, the chemical reaction in the electrolysis process is producing a lot of excess heat, about 20-40% of the electrolyser capacity is turned into waste heat. No matter the technology the temperature control is of outmost importance in order to ensure maximized production and efficiency of the electrolyser, but also to ensure maximized lifetime of the equipment. So the electrolyser needs to be cooled off, along with the hydrogen and oxygen gases. With the Alkaline and PEM electrolyser technologies in play today, we have a rather low operating temperature, typically 50-80degrees Celsius, and it can be difficult to find a useful offset for this low-temp heat. At the same time, every 10 MW of electrolyser capacity needs around 60 m3 of clean water per day, this means also efficient water production is needed. Instead of using conventional osmosis technology to demineralize the water, an alternative is to integrate the waste heat directly back into the electrolysis process by utilizing it for the water production. By a thermal desalination technology, especially favourable when operating offshore or when fresh water is scarce, the water is simply demineralized by the waste heat, minimizing the use of chemicals and increasing the overall process efficiency with about 27%. With partnerships and collaboration across borders, we can together accelerate this energy transition and make the decarbonized future a reality.

Since its invention by Walther Grot in the late 1960’s, Nafion™ PFSA ionomer has been used to make proton exchange membranes (PEMs) that can generate hydrogen through electrolysis and generate power from hydrogen. This forms the basis of a hydrogen economy that will support mobile and stationary applications. To meet the evolving demands of the growing hydrogen economy, scientists and engineers are building on over 50-years of Nafion™ innovation and manufacturing expertise by continuing to develop advanced forms of these unique ionomeric materials. In this talk we will demonstrate how ongoing advances in the responsible manufacture of Nafion™ polymers, membranes and dispersions can continue to advance the performance of water electrolyzers, without compromising the proven reliability of these systems. The Nafion™ constructions introduced in this talk will enable electrolyzers that are more efficient and easier to manufacture at scale. The capex and opex improvements enabled by these new materials will drive down the cost of green hydrogen, enabling a competitive and sustainable replacement to fossil fuel-based technologies.

This session highlights challenges and opportunities to bring down costs to allow hydrogen to become widely used and scale up technologies.