Salah Mahdy, Global Director Renewable Hydrogen at Howden, spoke first, highlighting the company’s long history and track record in developing its comprehensive range of equipment, including compressors, steam turbines and other solutions. The Howden diaphragm compressors “D” series was invented back in 1916 by Henri Corblin.

He said, “Howden’s diaphragm technology is seen as a critical component in many hydrogen applications, in particular the mobility sector. Our commitment to innovation has been ingrained into our DNA, as a result our compression technologies have been selected for key projects in the hydrogen sector around the world.”

Turning to Asia, he said the continent has been a very important market for Howden, with strong manufacturing and service capabilities in all the major countries. “We have gained extensive insights and experience into the different market dynamics and culture in the region – which are crucial elements for formulating a successful business strategy. Each country has adopted different strategies, and it’s important to understand these differences.”

So far Howden has delivered advanced compression solutions to a large number of hydrogen refuelling stations in China, and was closely involved with the Beijing Winter Olympics, with 1,200 hydrogen-powered vehicles being used over the course of the Games.

“We expect serious growth in the years to come, and more sectors will come to the game – including the green steel sector in China,” he said. “Our ability to remain flexible stems from our diverse portfolio and ability to serve a wide range of applications.”

During his exciting journey in the hydrogen sector, Mahdy highlighted three key lessons.

“The most critical is collaboration and cooperation between the different stakeholders across the hydrogen value chain, and it’s important for the acceleration for the industry,” he said.

“Secondly, we need to invest in research and development – this is the only way we can drive down costs and improve efficiencies, and lastly, the regulatory and policy environment are of significant importance in creating the incentives that we need for investment, to encourage more players to come into the market, adopt hydrogen technologies in different sectors, and protect the national industries as well.”

He said Asia is one of the most promising regions for the development of hydrogen, and highlighted Japan, South Korea and China as the front runners. “Japan has established a clear vision in the power generation and mobility sectors, South Korea has made significant investments in transport and fuel cells, and China has made a strong commitment, with plans to become a leading nation by 2050, if not before.”

Prashant Singh, Chief Manager of Hindustan Aeronautics, said alongside its defence business it had forged a  partnership with ZeroAvia – which recently completed its first test flight in the UK – with a view to integrate powertrains into its own aircraft, and supporting work on hydrogen-compliant airports in India.

“India has a National Green Hydrogen Mission in place, where we have set ambitious targets,” he said. “I believe India has huge potential, we have the ability to produce hydrogen in a competitive manner, not only to meet our domestic requirements but for export too.”

He underlined the importance of developing hydrogen and clean energy as a sustainability imperative, given Asia houses 60% of the world’s population, and 20% in India alone – and urged policymakers to seize the moment.

“I think things should happen more quickly and more effectively,” he said. “Collaboration is the right way to go, maybe there are companies and countries that are ahead of us and the best way is to engage with them, and start at the level where they are now. When it comes to an issue like global sustainability, we should be more liberal to solving the problems.”

Kareem Afzal, CEO PDC Machines, said its lighthouse projects include fuelling a fleet of 120 delivery vehicles for STNE in Shanghai, which has delivered close to 1m kg of hydrogen; in Japan, it operated a simple fuel system at Toyota’s headquarters, supporting its forklifts, and it is active in other prefectures; in Korea, PDC has supplied compression technologies at Seuol’s Incheon Airport; and its work stretches to Canberra and Sydney in Australia.

“We have been told we are getting an award for a 10MW compression for a mobile pipeline in Australia – the Australian market is really interesting, as you have an abundance of green hydrogen production and renewable resources that are going to be deployed in various states,” he said.

He said its ‘number one learning’ on the continent had been safety. “We are providing product to a lot of regions and they’re all government funded – and we work very hard with our local partners that we have a strong base. We are in the very early stages of this economy, and being able to deploy a product safely is our number one priority.

“The second is code and standards. Harmonisation is really important – and there will be harmonisation ‘with local characteristics’, and that will help bring down the costs for everyone. Hydrogen’s competition is not EVs, they’re going to rise together – it’s the incumbents, the fossil fuels, natural gas and diesel. As scale grows, the costs come down for everybody.”

Skills development was another key issue raised in the closing Q&A. PDC’s head count has grown just under threefold in four years to 200 people globally.

“As technologies grow in these regions, it’s really all our responsibilities to help support the growth in that skills gap, to safely deploy product to change the world with hydrogen as an energy carrier,” said Afzal.