The green hydrogen market is currently still very small. But a very important new industry is likely to emerge in the coming decades. Currently, the development is strongly politically driven and subsidized. But that is changing within a few years as costs fall while they rise for fossil fuels.
The German Ministry of Economic Affairs announced today (December 2nd, 2022) the construction of a hydrogen pipeline network. By 2027 it should cover 1,800 km, with many natural gas pipelines already in place and ready for immediate use. Germany wants to develop into a leading international market for hydrogen technology by 2030 and increase electrolyser capacity to ten gigawatts. The state is investing around 9 billion euros for this.
Green hydrogen is particularly useful for those areas that can hardly be electrified. These include industry and, for example, aviation.
1. Airbus builds the first hydrogen refueling station
Airbus (WKN: 938914) is already working intensively on the development of hydrogen aircraft and is building a corresponding infrastructure with partners at airports.
At Toulouse (Blagnac) airport, for example, the group is working with ArianeGroup to set up the first liquid hydrogen refueling station for its ZEROe aircraft. It is scheduled to start operations by 2025. ArianeGroup is a joint venture between Airbus and Safran, in which both companies have an equal stake.
“Many of the technologies needed for a zero-emission aircraft already exist in other industries, and handling liquid hydrogen is no exception,” said Airbus Technik boss Sabine Klauke.
“Preparing for the entry into service of a zero-emission aircraft in 2035 means that we need to build out all the required technologies in parallel. By partnering with ArianeGroup, we will leverage our well-established hydrogen know-how and other relevant space technologies to achieve this goal.”
2. SFC Energy with large fuel cell order
Many investors only look to Nel (NASDAQ:NEL) or Plug Power (NASDAQ:PLUG) in the hydrogen sector. But the German SFC Energy (WKN: 756857) is also interesting. The company recently received the largest fuel cell order in its history.
LiveView Technologies ordered 2,300 EFOY fuel cells for use in mobile surveillance technology in supermarket parking lots. The value is around 15 million US dollars. SFC Energy will deliver them by 2024. The US company has already ordered more than 1,100 fuel cells from SFC Energy in 2021 and another 600 in 2022.
3. Enapter Receives Hydrogen Electrolyzer Order
A second promising German hydrogen company is Enapter (WKN: A255G0). It plans to mass-produce electrolysers, for which there is a very high demand. Most recently, it received an order for two 1-megawatt electrolysers from Canada’s RE-FUEL Renewable Fuels.
The order value is in the low single-digit million range and Enapter aims to deliver the AEM electrolysers by the second half of 2024. An AEM electrolyser can produce 450 kg of hydrogen per day.
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