2021 in Review
Source: · NU:IONIC · | January 18, 2022
Source: Nu:ionic
The sun has set on 2021 and what a year it has been! A year in which consensus support were cemented for the crucial role hydrogen will play in a net zero future. Countries are developing strategies and implementing incentives. Companies are building out capacity and energy producers are shifting their strategies to embrace hydrogen as a key energy source. Much more needs to be done and at Nu:ionic, we are excited to offer solutions that accelerate this major energy transition. During the last year we achieved significant technical milestones and are working on several projects for the commercial demonstration of our Teal Hydrogen technology. We also initiated several adjacent applications of our Intellectual Property in for decarbonization. These developments are setting us on a path for significant growth in the coming year.
Market Momentum
In October the IEA (International Energy Agency) called international governments to action in the Global Hydrogen Review, stating "Governments need to take rapid actions to lower the barriers that are holding low-carbon hydrogen back from faster growth, which will be important if the world is to have a chance of reaching net zero emissions by 2050." To achieve this, hydrogen supply needs to increase almost 6-fold. Gauging by the number of projects announcements during 2021, industry is responding to this call, with more than 200 new projects announced during the year, spanning from a 1.1 MW green hydrogen project in Namibia, to large scale green hydrogen projects planned for Europe, the UK and Canada, and some notable large scale blue hydrogen projects announced in the UK, USA, Saudi Arabia, and Canada. Canada published their hydrogen strategy in December 2020, with a vision of producing 30% of Canada’s energy in the form of hydrogen by 2050 and becoming one of the top three global clean hydrogen producers. In Canada’s strategy, a carbon intensity threshold of hydrogen production of 36.4g CO2e/MJ has been set. British Columbia's Hydrogen Strategy provides financial support and robust policies to incentivize the switch to low-carbon fuels. Alberta’s Hydrogen Roadmap published in November 2021, highlighted the province’s capacity for CCUS in support of blue (and Teal!) hydrogen. While hydrogen produced via steam methane reforming (SMR) with CCUS is cheaper than electrolysis, it is necessary to continue to explore innovate new ways to produce clean hydrogen that achieves the carbon intensity threshold.