This fall, CHARGE/H2MI hosted a special webinar on hydrogen refueling infrastructure design and deployment – featuring an international panel of experts who shared their learnings from projects already in progress. You can now view the full recording of Shaping the Hydrogen Highway: H2 Refueling Wisdom In Practice below!
Panelist Q+A
Question 1: Can the panelists address workforce needs and gaps? Which positions are hardest to fill? What are the training gaps that your companies are finding? Are you partnering with 2-year colleges – if not, do you see that as a future training venue for your business?
Answer: In short, engineers and/or technicians with real experience in hydrogen are difficult to come by. This experience is invaluable when it comes to troubleshooting, making improvements, etc. While workforce development efforts are certainly needed, it’s currently difficult to prioritize resources on this when market growth is slower.
Question 2: Please share your perspective on transit bus applications – including overview of required equipment, station activity in the PNW & California, HTEC experience with transit at their UBC station, etc
Answer: There are regular RFPs from transit agencies looking to start or expand their fuel cell bus fleet. Buses in the US leverage 350 bar fueling and is typically private so there is limited opportunity to provide fueling for other vehicles (though a couple are trying to do this). Note that the bus market in Japan uses 700-bar fueling and public bus fueling is more common.
Question 3: Can you share your thoughts on onsite hydrogen production and refueling, for example onsite SMR and refueling?
Answer: This is challenging since it complicates project development, requires more land, and may not actually be more cost effective than distributing from larger scale production elsewhere. There could be certainly projects where it makes sense.
Question 4: Does cooling has an effect on heavy duty refueling price as dispensed amount is higher? Is liquid hydrogen supply is preferred for heavy duty refueling? Answered during the webinar.
Answer: Short answer is yes. Cooling requirements to meet the new J2601-5 protocol for heavy-duty could be significant. This just needs to be designed appropriately. The vehicles will still be receiving compressed gaseous hydrogen, but there are certainly ways to design a system that leverage the cold temperatures from liquid hydrogen.
Question 5: What areas of growth do you see as more resilient to federal policy shifts?
Answer: The impact greatly depends on who you ask. For Iwatani, the hubs were viewed as a future phase project to help build larger scale. In this sense, cancellation has very little near term impact, but it requires us to have a more conservative view the demand of hydrogen over the next 5 years or so. With a smaller demand signal, we are already seeing many new hydrogen production projects struggle to continue development. Projects that are resilient will focus more on local policy levers such as ZEV public fleet requirements or state/local incentive programs to generate demand. There will also be a stronger focus on ‘right sizing’ hydrogen infrastructure (supply, distribution, and stations) to meet the current expected demand with possibility of modular expansion, rather than overbuilding up front with the expectation of rapid growth to follow.
Question 6: What are each participant’s projections of H2 sales per annum? Also, what are their projections for wholesale costs of H2 grey and green?
Answer: In general, we should expect slow market growth related to fuel cell mobility where success will likely be built around a smaller number of projects that effectively match supply/demand well (e.g. transit, drayage trucks fleets, etc.). As a reference, ~200 new light duty FCEVs were sold in California this year (previous averages were closer to 3000 per year). For gray H2 costs, note that the actual cost to produce and the price sold for hydrogen mobility are not the same. Business and market dynamics are more the issue here and not necessarily the direct cost to produce.
Question 7: Are there fueling stations or in development of low carbon fueling stations that includes: EV, H2, and renewable diesel?
Answer: There may be a couple examples but the typical co location is on existing gasoline stations. It’s reasonable to expect that larger energy companies with investments in multiple alternative fuels would combine these options in future developments.
Question 8: Could you do a fleet of MD/LD and provide occasional HD vehicles for demos to companies considering HD vehicles? Discussed briefly during the webinar.
Answer: Short answer is yes, but we need to carefully consider safety when co-mingling and ensure that there is enough station capacity/performance designed in the beginning so HD fueling doesn’t negatively impact the primary MD/LD fueling.
Initiative
