Engineering the future of hydrogen

As the energy transition continues to advance, hydrogen is shaping up to be a key player in the evolving energy mix. Ahead of Gastech 2023, we spoke with Alex Lechner, business development executive at EnerMech to discuss the hydrogen landscape and steps required to scale up the sector.

What are the current trends and opportunities within the hydrogen industry right now?

Hydrogen has been identified as a vital solution to support global decarbonisation goals and there are endless opportunities to develop this important energy source. As we operate across the full project life cycle, within the sector, we are witnessing a rising number of large, global operators actively investing in hydrogen as they increasingly realise the value of its application. For instance, ExxonMobil has blue hydrogen projects underway in the US and Europe while bp has a number of developments in Australia, the UK and in Europe. These include the Australia Renewable Energy Hub (AREH) and hydrogen production projects in Teesside, Lingen (Germany) and Castellon in Spain.

Pilot projects to support the scale-up of hydrogen rely heavily on funding and it has been encouraging to see a number of government-backed initiatives to support this regionally, from the United States Inflation Reduction Act to Australia’s Hydrogen Head start. However, there are significant opportunities for private investment which remain untapped right now, but are essential to driving the sector forward and supporting the infrastructure and technology required to accelerate the application of hydrogen.

What challenges must be addressed to support the scaling of hydrogen?

While hydrogen has been present in oil refineries for decades, the commercialization of the gas is still in its relative infancy. This introduces challenges as there are not many large-scale projects so there is no economy of scale. Green hydrogen in particular poses unique challenges as it requires electrolysers which are not readily available.

The hydrogen sector also requires specialist personnel. Many skills from traditional energy markets are transferrable, and this is why at EnerMech we are able to operate cross-sector with ease in an integrated way. However, there is still significant work to do in developing a workforce to meet this demand. Targeted training will be vital to growing this labour, ensuring that existing knowledge and skills within the energy sector are accurately harnessed.

Is EnerMech currently supporting any hydrogen projects?

We have supported a number of projects globally and the sector is a key growth area for the business, particularly in Australia. We recently completed a significant installation and  pre-commissioning contract in the region for one of Asia Pacific’s first direct Methylcyclohexane (MCH) hydrogen plants. The development will use renewable energy to generate hydrogen, with toluene mixed instantly to create MCH.

Using our existing expertise and experience, we successfully delivered mechanical and electrical installation to support pre-commissioning and commissioning work. This included hazardous area inspections, structural steel and pipe fabrication and installation, and project management.

Last year, we also signed a distribution agreement with leading energy mobility and storage specialist Wolftank Group which aims to bring hydrogen refuelling stations to Australia and New Zealand’s industrial sectors. The project is truly groundbreaking. It allows hydrogen-powered vehicles to be fast-refilled on a par with traditional petrol or diesel fuelled freight.  Our local team in Australia are supporting the supply, installation, commissioning, and maintenance of Wolftank’s unique hydrogen refuelling stations.

Where do you see the hydrogen sector in the next 10 years?

I hope to see hydrogen adopted as a common, domestic energy source globally. This requires significant global efforts, and greater collaboration between operators and the supply chain, as well as trust building with the general public, but as we all move toward the same net-zero goal there is exponential opportunities to be grasped. With traditional energy supply chain companies like EnerMech applying their industry-agnostic service lines, specialist expertise and technologies to this sector, I believe we can fast-track its growth and deliver a safe, clean, reliable and sustainable energy source for the future.

Gastech is at the heart of natural gas, LNG, hydrogen, low-carbon solutions, and climate technologies

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