On Day 1 of H2Tech's H2Tech Solutions virtual event, Dr. Graham Cooley, Chief Executive Officer at ITM Power, addressed green hydrogen production and the factors over the last year that have boosted the industry to the forefront.

"One of the key drivers for the adoption of green hydrogen and the incredible industrial interest which has now developed is that the cost of green hydrogen has come down so much," Dr. Cooley said. "As the price of renewable power comes down, so does the price of green hydrogen."

Another important driver is that, as the cost of renewable power is reduced, its use increases. This requires increased energy storage. Dr. Cooley stated that the best way to store electrons for a long period of time and at massive scale is to turn electrons into molecules, as molecules are much easier to store than electrons. When an electrolyzer is coupled to electric power and water is split, green hydrogen is produced.

"When you make green hydrogen using renewable power, you make the only net-zero energy gas," Dr. Cooley said. "It's the only fuel that has no carbon in the whole of its supply chain. It has become an incredibly important tool in international decarbonization."

The EU Green Hydrogen Package is a €1 trillion package to incentivize the use of green hydrogen; €150 billion is to be used over the next 10 years to spur the use of green hydrogen to replace the heavy European use of gray hydrogen. Governments are using GW-scale electrolyzer targets to measure capacities.

In January 2021, ITM Power moved into the world's largest electrolyzer factory, with a capacity of 1 GW/year (1,000 MW/year). "For us, we are always looking to the future, at targets, and at an industry that is growing incredibly rapidly," Dr. Cooley said. "This has been a journey of more than 20 years."

Dr. Cooley stressed that as the company and its partners respond to market demand for large scale and focus on increasing their module size and power, their goals are focused on standardization, cost reduction and rapid deployment.

The H2Tech Solutions virtual conference runs from 18–19 May. Please visit www.H2-TechSolutions.com to view the event agenda and register for live and on-demand access to the speaker presentations!