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The traditionally held belief is that the future of nuclear energy is electricity production. However another possible future exists: nuclear energy used primarily for the production of hydrogen. The hydrogen in turn would be used to meet our demands for transport fuels (including liquid fuels) materials such as steel and fertilizer and peak-load electricity production. Hydrogen would become the replacement for fossil fuels in these applications that consume more than half the world’s energy. Such a future would follow from several factors: (a) concerns about climatic change that limit the use of fossil fuels (b) the fundamental technological differences between hydrogen and electricity that may preferentially couple different primary energy sources with either hydrogen or electricity and (c) the potential for other technologies to competitively produce electricity but not hydrogen. Electricity (movement of electrons) is not fundamentally a large-scale centralized technology that requires centralized methods of production distribution or use. In contrast hydrogen (movement of atoms) is intrinsically a large-scale centralized technology. The large-scale centralized characteristics of nuclear energy as a primary energy source hydrogen production systems and hydrogen storage systems naturally couple these technologies. This connection suggests that serious consideration be given to hydrogen as the ultimate product of nuclear energy and that nuclear systems be designed explicitly for hydrogen production.

For this episode we speak to Amanda Lyne the Managing Director of ULEMCo and the Chair of the UK Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Association (UKHFCA). Below are a few links to some of the content discussed on the show and some further background reading.

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Since 2014 when the firm was founded within Anglo-American AP Ventures has been at the forefront of investment in hydrogen sector technologies. At the time the firm started the concerns around climate change and investment in renewable energy tech was gearing up but interest in hydrogen as part of the path to a decarbonized future was limited. The founders of AP Ventures felt differently and saw significant potential for hydrogen to offer a means for cleaning up highly carbon intensive sectors such as heavy transport industrial manufacturing and mining operations. Today that vision for hydrogen appears rather prescient. We are delighted to have two members from the team at AP Ventures with us on the show today. The team is joined by Kevin Eggers - a founding partner at AP - and Michell Robson - associate on the firm's investment team.

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On this weeks episode the team are talking all things hydrogen with Jigar Shah the President of Generate Capital and Co-host of the Energy Gang podcast. Jigar Shah has a well earned reputation as one of the most influential voices in the US clean energy market having pioneered no-money down solar with SunEdison and led the not for profit climate group the Carbon War Room. Since its founding in 2014 Generate Capital the company has provided $130 million of funds to a leading fuel cell provide Plug Power meanwhile in October 2019 Jigar declared hydrogen to be the ultimate clean electricity enabler. On the show we ask Jigar why he thinks Hydrogen is becoming interesting for investors today what business models he feels are exciting and offer the most attractive niches for hydrogen technology businesses whilst getting his side of the story on that time he met Chris at a conference…..All this and more on the show!

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The team are joined by Dr. Jenifer Baxter of the Institution for Mechanical Engineers (IMECHE). Dr. Baxter is based in the UK and is the Chief Engineer at IMECHE. We often focus heavily on the business cases and development models at the heart of the hydrogen economy here at EAH. On this episode we bring the technical discussion to the forefront and speak with Dr. Baxter about the technical advantages and the challenges that hydrogen presents as an essential part of the path to decarbonizing the future. The team's conversation is a can't miss exploration of a wide range of potential applications for hydrogen technologies that brings a new and essential perspective to the podcast. Don't miss out on EAH's newest episode where we get the engineer's perspective on the future of hydrogen!

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On this weeks show we discuss with Graham Cooley the CEO of ITM Power how his company has expanded from a research company on AIM in the early 2000’s to one of the largest electrolyser manufacturers in the world. On the show we also ask Graham to talk about how the hydrogen market has evolved where he sees the potential growth trajectory for the industry and how ITM sees its role within this space.

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This episode of EAH is a chance for the team to catch up with one of our early guests on the show Graham Cooley - CEO of ITM Power. For the past twenty years ITM Power PLC has been designing and manufacturing electrolyser systems that generate hydrogen based on proton exchange membrane (PEM) technology. As the first hydrogen related company to be listed on the London Stock Exchange ITM are globally recognised experts in the field of electrolysis. In 2021 the company opened its first Gigafactory in Bessemer Park Sheffield: the world’s largest electrolyser production factory.

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Water electrolysis for hydrogen production has received increasing attention especially for accumulating renewable energy. Here we comprehensively reviewed all water electrolysis research areas through computational analysis using a citation network to objectively detect emerging technologies and provide interdisciplinary data for forecasting trends. The results show that all research areas increase their publication counts per year and the following two areas are particularly increasing in terms of number of publications: “microbial electrolysis” and “catalysts in an alkaline water electrolyzer (AWE) and in a polymer electrolyte membrane water electrolyzer (PEME).”. Other research areas such as AWE and PEME systems solid oxide electrolysis and the whole renewable energy system have recently received several review papers although papers that focus on specific technologies and are cited frequently have not been published within the citation network. This indicates that these areas receive attention but there are no novel technologies that are the center of the citation network. Emerging technologies detected within these research areas are presented in this review. Furthermore a comparison with fuel cell research is conducted because water electrolysis is the reverse reaction to fuel cells and similar technologies are employed in both areas. Technologies that are not transferred between fuel cells and water electrolysis are introduced and future water electrolysis trends are discussed.

The EAH Team takes a break from standard format on this special episode of Everything About Hydrogen to discuss some of the geopolitical factors and considerations driving the evolution of global hydrogen markets.

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With COP starting this week we discuss with the HLC team the role of hydrogen in decarbonization and the critical need for hydrogen to scale quickly. Andrew and Patrick sit down with Kieran Coleman Energy & Industry Lead for the United Nations COP High Level Champions to chat about the work being done in advance of COP with partners and the level of ambition we’ve seen across various sectors about the future of hydrogen and a lot more!

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