As the hydrogen market beings to enter its fruition, there are still many challenges to tackle in rolling hydrogen power out universally, with the GenH2 boss discussing the storage challenges.

Bateman said, “I do believe liquid [hydrogen] is the future. It’s a lot safer, it’s a lot more energy dense and it’s actually easier to transport.”

He told attendees that GenH2 had been developing giga spheres, which he said, were originally commissioned by NASA for Mars projects, that could revolutionise liquid hydrogen storage, echoing a statement from the company this week.

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“Our design engineers work on the largest liquid hydrogen tank ever built. It was built for the mission to the moon and hopefully to Mars soon. And it’s 1.25 million gallons of liquid hydrogen is just a massive amount, but we have designs that can take that,” said Bateman.

On H2 View’s Power Pillar webinar, Bateman was joined by Tina Andersen, Applications Engineer at Hystar, Jaco Reijerker, founder and Chief Commercial Officer at Ekinetix and hosts Rob Cockerill, Managing Editor, and Thomas Dee, Broadcast Journalist at H2 View.

Tina Andersen got the webinar rolling as she discussed some of the game-changing technology that Hystar is producing, which could dramatically increase yields in hydrogen production from electrolysers.

“We are operating at or above 16% lower energy consumption. Our current membrane allows us to go up to much higher current densities, which enables much higher production rate per stack,” said Andersen.

Andersen went on to discuss that the mass of new policy beginning to shape the market should be followed in order for the roll out of hydrogen to move forward, and secure energy for Europe.

Andersen explained, “Given the current situation and the policies coming from European level, we are of course following that very closely.

“I must say that as a society it’s important to move forward both for that and climate than there be there, but also, of course, to ensure that we have a good, stable energy security in Europe.”

GenH2’s Cody Bateman was up next and laid out a case for the importance of establishing ways the industry can get hydrogen out of the planned hydrogen hubs out to everyday consumers.

He said, “If you were to look at a geographical layout of where the housing is, you’ll start seeing large areas of every country that’s going into the hydrogen economy with huge voids in it.”

“That’s what we believe is really necessary for the hydrogen economy to really take off. So, it’s one thing to have these huge hubs in huge cities or next to major ports, which we work on as well. But the real key is to get it out into the rest of the nations and out to the fields so the common person can use that.”

In response to Daryl Wilson, Executive Director at the Hydrogen Council, outlining challenges, such as certainty of demand, project funding, and the standards being universalised, that still face the hydrogen power market, Bateman hinted at some exciting conversations he has had that hints the demand is coming.

Bateman said, “I think the demand side is coming. What’s exciting to us is we’re actually seeing the demand grow.

“Just this week the Department of Defence (DOD) has come to us and has asked us about doing some very unique projects for the military.

“To see that the military is looking at hydrogen, as they begin to see the advantages of it comes out, especially creating power at no noise, for them to be able to power a large platoon or something with no noise, it’s pretty incredible to see.”

Watch Daryl Wilson’s thoughts on the challenges facing hydrogen:

H2 View webinar veteran, Ektinetix Commercial Director, Jaco Reijerker, went on to say that one of the biggest challenges with the roll out of hydrogen, is simply the scale of the problems it faces.

Reijerker explained, “We are introducing a new energy carrier. Just that is a big thing in itself, and we’re trying to solve complex problems: complex climate change, energy security. Those are big issues.

“We have rocket scientists, energy scientists, industrial gas specialists to work on these kinds of topics. I mean, this technology is far from mainstream still. I think that is also one of the main challenges in this area.”

On the side of mobility infrastructure, Reijerker explained that he believes the technology available at the moment is scalable, however, the lack of commitment economic investment is holding the industry back.

He said, “I’m quite certain that the technology is very scalable. The challenge at the moment is that we’ve come a time where we had these demonstration projects and then once the project was finished, the project that the fuelling station would be taken away.

“The first company to invest in these stations is the ones that loses money for the longest. It’s like this Mexican stand down, who will go all in first?

“So, it’s more an economical problem than the technical problems. I think technically there is absolutely no challenge in my view, for scaling up these stations. That’s why we have a clear path for that. But it’s an economical challenge.”

The next H2 View webinar will focus on the hydrogen technology pillar on the August 5. For more information click here.