A message from our Acting Chief Executive Officer, Keith Riley
A warm welcome to our first Newsletter of 2023. As I said in my new year blog featured on the Powerhouse website, 2023 is a year of transition for the company – and so it is proving to be. We have a new Chairman, new board members, and aim to expand our product offering.
The production of hydrogen from wastes, especially plastics, is expected to be a mainstay for Powerhouse for years to come. There is a view that hydrogen will become the major source of energy for industrial and domestic uses, and the most important fuel for transporting heavy goods, by trucks, ships and aircraft. We aim to be at the forefront of that. The demand for hydrogen is likely to ramp up over the next decade. BMW is set to be the first big European carmaker to fuel cars with hydrogen on a large scale, but production seems unlikely to start until towards the end of the decade. As of today, no-one driving a BMW will be buying hydrogen to fuel their car but hydrogen is very likely to be a main fuel of the future. Powerhouse expects to be there to respond to that, but it needs to do something else while the demand builds up.
Powerhouse has the capability to do many other things as well as produce hydrogen from plastic. It has developed a thermal treatment process that can be put to many applications. Much of my effort since taking an executive position on the board has gone into strengthening those capabilities and putting the company into shape to be able to tackle some of these other markets. Our agreement with Petrofac is part of that. We continue to develop and optimise the science, engineering and supply chain for Plastics to Hydrogen, but we also need to think of other feedstocks and other products – electricity and heat are obvious candidates, but there are also liquid fuels and chemical building blocks. Having Petrofac working with us will accelerate the company’s ability to develop those applications, and enable us to apply Petrofac’s experience and knowledge to perfecting our hydrogen production capability.
Don’t miss this! Powerhouse is all about energy and this edition brings an article from Engineering Team Lead, Andy Physick. Andy is in charge of PHE’s research and development and has been the major contributor on our push along with Peel to get the Low Carbon Hydrogen Standard and what the Department for Transport is doing with the RTFO into shape for hydrogen generated by DMG®. Without consistent standards on which to base the hydrogen economy, there is potential for market chaos and as a result, many would-be users are holding back. Powerhouse is engaging with Government to get a level playing field and one which hydrogen users can rely upon. That way we will establish a solid foundation on which to build the Company.
It is this lack of consistency in standards and the current low demand in the market for hydrogen that leads to Peel’s hesitation on Protos. I am sure this will be overcome one way or another, whether it be at Protos or elsewhere, if for no other reason than, if the world is to decarbonise, lack of choice. Hydrogen is the future. Here’s looking to the future.
Keith Riley, Chief Executive Officer
Working in the frame of Petrofac
Powerhouse has announced that it entered into a framework agreement with Petrofac, the leading international service provider with 8200 employees and over 40 years of experience. The agreement allows Powerhouse and Petrofac to cooperate on engineering and supply chain matters across the full range of Powerhouses capabilities, including configurations of Powerhouse Technology not looked at in any depth to date.
The two companies have already carried out workshops to identify and prioritise topics to be explored. These include improving the design of the Protos plastics to hydrogen facility and developing new designs for Powerhouse’s pipeline of future projects.
Tony Gardner-Hillman, Chairman of PHE commented: “We are delighted to announce this Agreement, in relation to which PHE will be working with Petrofac to complete the design engineering of PHE’s projects. Petrofac is a renowned operator with extensive expertise in the energy space and we look forward to a long and successful relationship.“
Jon Carpenter, Vice President, New Energy Services, Petrofac, commented: “We are thrilled to be selected as partner with PHE. We see gasification of waste as a key enabler for a net zero future. We look forward deploying our engineering, project delivery and operational experience to drive their projects to success.”
Update on Poland
Hydrogen Utopia International Plc, has through its wholly owned subsidiary, Hydropolis United sp z.o.o., signed a Letter of Intent with the City of Walbrzych, to commence preparation of the necessary technical, environmental and legal documentation to facilitate the planning and permitting of an HUI facility in the municipality of Walbrzych for the processing of mixed waste plastic.
PHE is assisting HUI in its discussions with MZUK sp. Z.o.o., the municipal waste service provider to the City of Walbrzych, to define and specify the facility to be developed. PHE will be defining and specifying the system to be developed to suit the intended feedstock, which will come from the waste management company serving the City. Having the waste stream identified is an important initial step in the project development and in determining the required equipment. PHE will be helping HUI to define the process engineering, following which the design of the facility can be established.
Directorate Updates
Powerhouse Energy is pleased to welcome its new Non-Executive Chairman, Tony Gardner-Hillman, and Tony Gale and David Hitchcock as Non-Executive Directors of the Company, all of whose appointments came into effect at the beginning of 2023. This has been followed by the addition of Professor Karol (Charles) Kacprzak, who became a Non-Executive Director in February.
Tony Gardner-Hillman is a lawyer by profession who in 1987 co-founded JTC Group, now a FTSE 250 constituent, and most recently co-founded the privately owned consultancy Rocquaine Management Limited. Tony has his home base in Jersey, travels internationally, and has worked across a broad range of industry sectors and asset classes around the World. His attributes are equally relevant to companies in all jurisdictions. Tony’s extensive legal and board level experience, including at chairman level with companies whose shares have been admitted to trading on AIM, gives him a broad perspective which he is bringing to Powerhouse.
Tony Gale is founder and currently Managing Director of Tony Gale Cleantech Consultants Ltd and has over 30 years’ experience in the industrial and manufacturing sectors, working with global corporations and SMEs.
David Hitchcock is currently the Chairman and a co-founder of States Bridge Capital, a firm which lists fast-growing private companies in the UK and internationally, via IPOs to the UK public stock markets including the Standard List and AIM. States Bridge Capital, also acts as a financial advisor to UK public companies. David has previously worked with a number of early stage businesses.
Professor Kacprzak is currently an Associate Professor at the Faculty of Chemistry at Adam Mickiewiez Univerisity in Poznan, Poland and has over 20 years’ of academic experience. At Adam Mickiewiez Univerisity he was awarded a PhD with distinction in Organic Chemistry and an Msc in Environmental Chemistry.
Prof. Kacprzak is an expert in organic and medicinal chemistry, actively collaborating with the chemical industry, and is also a member of the Polish Chemical Society. He was at one time the CEO of a State-owned tyre and rubber manufacturer in Poland.Directorate Updates Powerhouse Energy is pleased to welcome its new Non-Executive Chairman, Tony Gardner-Hillman, and Tony Gale and David Hitchcock as Non-Executive Directors of the Company, all of whose appointments came into effect at the beginning of 2023. This has been followed by the addition of Professor Karol (Charles) Kacprzak, who became a Non-Executive Director in February.
Tony Gardner-Hillman is a lawyer by profession who in 1987 co-founded JTC Group, now a FTSE 250 constituent, and most recently co-founded the privately owned consultancy Rocquaine Management Limited. Tony has his home base in Jersey, travels internationally, and has worked across a broad range of industry sectors and asset classes around the World. His attributes are equally relevant to companies in all jurisdictions. Tony’s extensive legal and board level experience, including at chairman level with companies whose shares have been admitted to trading on AIM, gives him a broad perspective which he is bringing to Powerhouse.
Tony Gale is founder and currently Managing Director of Tony Gale Cleantech Consultants Ltd and has over 30 years’ experience in the industrial and manufacturing sectors, working with global corporations and SMEs.
David Hitchcock is currently the Chairman and a co-founder of States Bridge Capital, a firm which lists fast-growing private companies in the UK and internationally, via IPOs to the UK public stock markets including the Standard List and AIM. States Bridge Capital, also acts as a financial advisor to UK public companies. David has previously worked with a number of early stage businesses.
Professor Kacprzak is currently an Associate Professor at the Faculty of Chemistry at Adam Mickiewiez Univerisity in Poznan, Poland and has over 20 years’ of academic experience. At Adam Mickiewiez Univerisity he was awarded a PhD with distinction in Organic Chemistry and an Msc in Environmental Chemistry.
Prof. Kacprzak is an expert in organic and medicinal chemistry, actively collaborating with the chemical industry, and is also a member of the Polish Chemical Society. He was at one time the CEO of a State-owned tyre and rubber manufacturer in Poland.
Is there an energy bubble?
By Dr Andrew Physick, Engineering Team Lead
The uptake and use of hydrogen has to happen, for the environment and people’s health and well-being, just as much as for energy security. Hydrogen isn’t the golden bullet for all energy needs, but it is a critically essential part of the bigger picture, a part that can’t easily be substituted by other fuels.
Decarbonising the Grid CO2 is released to the atmosphere from all of the generating sources connected to the national grid,. The 2021 Energy White Paper details targets to fully decarbonise the grid by 2035.
Crunching the numbers, in 2021, grid demand was 334 TWh, with an applaudable ~40% of our power coming from renewable energy. This does vary, but let’s take ~133 TWh for that for now. Again, figures do vary, but the fossil fraction stands at a little over 41%, or ~139 TWh. Just to decarbonise the grid, as is, we need an additional 139 TWh of capacity on demand, by 2035.
Electric Vehicle Uptake There were 32.7 million passenger cars on UK roads as of 2020. With the ban on sales of new conventional petrol and diesel vehicles by 2030, there is expected to be a transition to EV’s. If even a quarter are replaced by electric by 2035, that’s 8.2 million electric passenger cars alone. The average distance cars drive in the UK is 20 miles per day or approximately 7,400 miles per year.
That’s potentially 60.5 billion electric miles driven per year in total in the UK. In perfect driving conditions, electric cars consume ~0.25 kWh per mile averaged over the entire journey, so 1,850 kWh per car per year, or approximately 15 TWh. That still isn’t the whole picture, charging batteries of electric cars isn’t 100% efficient either.
Reported figures range from 85% in optimal conditions to as low as 60% in sub-optimal conditions. Taking the conservative optimal number, the additional grid demand for charging electric passenger cars could be 17.8 TWh.
The Nuclear Conundrum
By next year, five of the remaining six AGR nuclear reactors will be fully disconnected from the grid, the last AGR reactor by 2028, and the last PWD reactors by 2035. This represents an enormous reduction in low carbon grid capacity of 66.5 TWh. Yes, there are plans for up to eight new nuclear plants in the UK to cover this loss, but basing the speed of deployment on the ongoing Hinkley Point C project (2016-26, assuming no further delays), we should anticipate at least a 10 year construction program per new site, and we haven’t started construction of most of these yet. I’m a big, big fan of nuclear (almost as much as I love renewables), but we have to be realistic in terms of timeframes.
Green Hydrogen Green Hydrogen needs green power. And a lot of it. If electrolysers were 100% efficient at splitting water, 33 kWh of electrical power would be needed to produce 1 kg of hydrogen. That is, 1 kg of hydrogen contains 33 kWh of energy at the lower heating value (LHV). Electrolysers aren’t 100% efficient however. Efficiencies could reach 80%, meaning ~42 kWh would be needed instead.
The green hydrogen market is forecast to grow, with backing from Government on multiple fronts and the 10 GW installed capacity target by 2030, with at least 50% of that capacity coming from electrolysers. 10 GW is approximately 87.6 TWh total per year. S&P Global predicts a much larger growth however, at ~330 TWh in their most conservative estimates, in which Net Zero targets aren’t even achieved. Big numbers indeed. Lets take a mid-range estimate, of 200 TWh of green Hydrogen, or 250 TWh of green electrical power needed for now.
Renewables Summarising, that’s 139 TWh to decarbonise the existing grid, 17.8 TWh to cover EV’s, 66.5 TWh to cover the crossover of nuclear fleets, and taking a conservative mid-range number, an additional 250 TWh to cover green hydrogen. That is a whopping 473 TWh of additional low carbon power we could potentially need by the 2030’s.
Fortunately, the UK Government wants up to 438 TWh equivalent of renewable installed capacity by 2035. That’s installed capacity, not actual output capacity.
Now asking how many we need, well wind turbines are already approaching the Betz efficiency limit and tip speed limit, so are likely approaching both size and cost plateaus. So taking an average 2 MW turbine spacing of 2 per km2, we are talking a wind farm of 16,873 km2 (Wales is 20,779 km2, for comparison). The Government states it takes at least 13 years to build an off-shore wind farm of current, modern sizes, so even if a new wind farm was announced today, the 2035 deadline would already be missed for that farm. And I suspect no one is planning on announcing a wind farm the size of Wales, just yet anyway. So timeframes don’t align, even if we start building additional massive wind farms right now.
There seems to be a worrying power gap between the late 2020’s and 2030’s. What will be sacrificed first – power to homes or businesses, power to EV’s, or power to green hydrogen projects? I can take a pretty good guess which of those would be political suicide, and what would suffer the first blow. Maybe we should be looking to diversify our hydrogen ambitions a little further.
Solution The answer’s rubbish, literal rubbish. That is, waste can play a critical part in covering the shortfalls for green hydrogen, until the huge wind farm is built and new nuclear is smoothly purring away with that soft Cherenkov glow, and if used correctly, it can do this without placing additional strain on the grid. This can also play a part in decarbonising one of the most difficult to decarbonise parts of the grid, which is also the most polluting part – incineration.
The reason that incinerators are difficult to decarbonise, is that their use is currently not optional, and the scales involved are big. Primary fossil fuel isn’t dug out of the ground as their feedstock, and they can’t just be turned off, as they tie into an ongoing waste problem in the UK. Remaining landfill capacity is running dangerously low, and land is too precious to open new landfills. Every new landfill would be another local ecosystem destroyed.
Recycling rates are increasing, fortunately, which alleviates the strain and pressures slightly, but the process of recycling isn’t 100% efficient either. As recycling rates increase, the fraction of unrecyclable material also increases, and guess what will happen to that. Correct – it will be incinerated.
Wouldn’t it be great if there was a cutting-edge new technology available, to recycle, chemically and efficiently, that same unavoidable and non-recyclable waste, and which produces both hydrogen, and electrical power, at the point it’s needed. A technology that would support the already fragile grid as well as the emerging hydrogen economy. A technology that could be developed without the need for widespread infrastructure changes, whilst aiding in lowering the carbon intensity of the grid.
And wouldn’t it be even better if that same technology could separate out some of the carbon in the waste in an easy-to-handle, solid form, diverting it away from the atmosphere? And whilst we’re at it, let’s throw in to our wish list all the above but with a low water-use demand and a small footprint too.
Now here’s the clever bit, Powerhouse Energy has developed such a technology, based around a process called gasification, an Advanced Thermal Conversion technology. Powerhouse’s diversified modular gasification, or DMG, technology can do all of the above, bridging that critical gap and crossover period that has been identified, supporting the nation’s needs, in a more efficient and lower carbon manner.
This is technology that is ready to go right now. What we want is more people to learn about it, both the general public and at Government level. What it isn’t, is a magic wand that will fix everything, but it has the potential to make an impact where it can pull a big punch, in areas that are difficult to work in, where there aren’t many good options available. So, I invite you to share this article, view our website and learn a bit more about the good work we are trying to do here at Powerhouse Energy.
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