Canadian Engineers Make “Revolutionary” Hydrogen Breakthrough
Already one of the world’s top ten producers of hydrogen, Canada is at the forefront of the global effort to develop a sustainable hydrogen economy, and a recent breakthrough may just bring it closer to becoming one of the most important energy transition hubs on the planet.
Already one of the world’s top ten producers of hydrogen, Canada is at the forefront of the global effort to develop a sustainable hydrogen economy, and a recent breakthrough may just bring it closer to becoming one of the most important energy transition hubs on the planet.
Canada is home to more than 100 hydrogen and fuel cell tech companies, and one of them has flipped the switch on a unique new hydrogen reactor in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada.
Canadian company GH Power and its team of world-class engineers led by CEO Dave White are bringing the world green hydrogen, high-quality heat and green alumina that can be fed into the grid using proprietary reactor technology that relies on only two inputs, creating zero waste and zero carbon emissions.
First Of Its Kind
The reactor is said to be the very first of its kind to operate continuously, extracting baseload energy and hydrogen from the rapid oxidation of metal in water.
The Hydrogen system is designed to be modular and scalable and to enable local microgrids to supply baseload, reliable green energy solutions anywhere, anytime–even in the most remote areas of the world.
The reaction is exothermic and self-sustaining, safe, quiet and deployable within the last mile of the energy user.
For Canada’s ambitions of becoming a major hydrogen superpower, the reactor, which began final Phase II testing on June 23rd, with commercial operations set to begin by Q4 2023, represents an impressive step forward in the high-stakes, low-carbon hydrogen game.
For GH Power, seven years of quiet and painstaking research and testing has turned the company into an award-winning innovator that hopes to reward future investors with four potential revenue streams.
Partnering for a Clean, Secure Future
In August 2022, just five months after Russia launched its war on Ukraine and the weaponization of energy rose to the forefront, Canada took decisive steps to accelerate the global clean energy transition, signing a Joint Declaration of Intent with Germany to collaborate on the export of clean Canadian hydrogen to Europe’s economic powerhouse.
The deal means a commitment to enable investment in hydrogen projects through policy harmonization; support for the development of secure hydrogen supply chains; the creation of a Transatlantic Canada-Germany supply corridor; and the export of clean Canadian hydrogen by 2025.
GH Power’s unique hydrogen reactor has been a focal point of this alliance, and its technology has been awarded $ 2.2 million in federal funding from the National Research Council of Canada as part of the Transatlantic commitment with Germany. The award is intended to support further research of the optimum fuel mixture for its reactor and the ultimate refinement of its high-purity alumina.
This award-winning technology is the result of seven years of painstaking research by world-class scientists and engineers led by GH Power CEO Dave White, a veteran engineer in the power generation space. Combined, the GH Power team has over a century of power generation experience, designing, building and operating power plants, refineries and other energy infrastructure.
Chief Engineer Ken Steward has been designing and managing thermal power plants and petrochemical processes for over four decades across numerous different power plants in North America. COO Gary Grahn brings to the table 25 years of international energy experience, including in oil, gas, minerals, metals and utilities, and CFO Anand Patel contributes a decade of real asset capital markets experience, with over $4 billion in completed transactions, including for renewable energy giant Brookfield Asset Management. Finally, project development director Mike Miller offers more than 35 years of experience in infrastructure, private equity, and development for top companies along the energy supply chain, such as giant NextEra Energy.
“Unlocking the potential of hydrogen is an essential part of our government’s plan for a sustainable economic future — not just for the domestic opportunities for emissions reductions but also for its potential as an export opportunity: to provide clean energy to countries around the globe,” the Honorable Jonathan Wilkinson, Minister of Natural Resources, said following the signing of the alliance deal with Germany.
“Green hydrogen is an important key for a climate-neutral economy. We must resolutely pursue climate change mitigation in order to secure our prosperity and freedom. This is more important and urgent than ever at this time,” German Vice-Chancellor Robert Habeck said. “The Hydrogen Alliance between Canada and Germany is a significant milestone as we accelerate the international market rollout of green hydrogen and clear the way for new transatlantic cooperation. Specifically, we aim to build up a transatlantic supply chain for green hydrogen. The first shipments from Canada to Germany are to begin as early as 2025.”
In partnership with Carleton University, Germany’s ParteQ, particle separation equipment supplier, the National Research Council of Canada, and RWTH Aachen University, the first-of-its-kind reactor is now fully in the global, low-carbon hydrogen spotlight.
Inside the First-of-its-Kind reactor
The hydrogen produced by the modular version of GH Power’s 2MW reactor is pure and clean, with zero emissions, zero carbon and zero waste, using only 2 inputs (recycled aluminum and water). Only a small amount of energy is required to start the reactor, after which it is a self-sustaining operation that is a net generator of power to the grid.
Zero-carbon hydrogen is arguably what could make or break the world’s net-zero emissions goals. It’s the closest answer we have to combat the disastrous impacts of climate change. The Hydrogen Council estimates that hydrogen will represent 18% of all energy delivered to end users by 2050, avoiding 6 gigatonnes of carbon emissions annually and turning around $2.5 trillion in annual sales (not to mention creating 30 million jobs globally).
For now, the majority of hydrogen in North America is produced by natural gas reforming in large central plants—an important step in the energy transition. The end goal, however, is to produce hydrogen without creating carbon emissions. Now, scientists are attempting to advance a process called “electrolysis” to create pure, clean hydrogen by splitting water into pure hydrogen and oxygen using high-temperature electrolyzers.
According to the U.S. Department of Energy (DoE), the cost of producing hydrogen from renewable energy is around $5 per kilogram, or approximately 3X higher than producing hydrogen from natural gas. The DoE hopes the billions of dollars it’s pouring into R&D now will reduce hydrogen production costs by 80% (to an ideal of $1 per kilogram) within a decade.
By the company’s estimates, GH Power’s reactor is already 60% cheaper than producing hydrogen than DoE estimates, and it is a net producer of electricity to the grid. Its green alumina by-product production costs are also 85% cheaper than the most commonly used processes such as hydrochloric acid leaching and hydrolysis for alumina production.
The company has also had successful tests using scrap steel (iron) as another metal fuel providing a scalable hydrogen generation solution with a much lower costs basis at under a $1/kg hydrogen. Scrap steel (iron) is a widely available metal fuel that GH Power is testing.
Zero-Carbon Alumina - A World First
GH Power’s reactor produces green high-purity alumina (HPA)—a valuable specialty product used by several high-growth technology markets, including semiconductors, LED products, lithium-ion batteries, Smartphones, a multitude of other electronic devices, and industrial ceramics.
LED is a high-growth industry because it is critical to improving energy efficiency. Lithium-ion batteries are likewise experiencing soaring growth amid an energy transition driven heavily by the mainstream adoption of electric vehicles. Demand for Smartphones and other electric devices is also continuously rising. All of this suggests significant growth in demand for HPA.
Today’s supply is determined by production processes that are highly capital-intensive. Projects face financing issues as a result of high energy prices for production, leading to tight supply. GH Power looks to be very well position to compete in this market sector with their low-cost green alumina products.
Exothermic Heat & Carbon Credits
This is a new technology based on a circular economy. Not only does it use recyclable inputs, but the exothermic heat from the reaction can also be used to generate high quality steam and hot water for industrial applications.
And once scaled up, GH Power’s 27-megawatt plant will run off the combustion of hydrogen gas and capturing the energy from the reaction’s exothermic heat. This combined cycle (CHP) approach can be added to an existing power generation asset which could significantly reduce CO2 emissions or it can be utilized in a green field application thus significantly reducing greenhouse gas emissions associated with traditional fossil fuel power generation.
First Revenue Generation
First revenue generation is anticipated in the fourth quarter, and then the future plan is all about scaling up the modular technology to much larger Combined Cycle Power Plants.
What's Next? Scaling Up the Energy Transition
“The only practical solution for society to reduce carbon emissions is to transition from 100% fossil fuels to cleaner tech,” and one of the steps in tackling this is to blend hydrogen with fossil fuels and ramp up the hydrogen content whenever possible,” says Dave White, GH Power CEO and a veteran engineer in the power generation space. GH Power’s technology is modular and scalable which makes a plant’s configuration very flexible with maximum efficiency while meeting a customer’s energy requirements. GH Power has modeled a 27MW combined cycle plant and is in the early planning stages with customers.
A Government of Canada investment through the Federal Economic Development Agency for Southern Ontario.
