Hydrogen plays a pivotal role in shaping our clean energy future and to meet the Paris Agreement target, uptake of the gas needs to triple to meet 15% of energy demand by mid-century. The adoption of H2 is a vital solution to support these global decarbonisation goals and there are endless opportunities to develop this important energy source.
Alex Lechner, business development executive, discussed how the adoption of H2 is a vital solution to support these global decarbonisation goals and the endless opportunities available to develop this important energy source.
He said: “At EnerMech, 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.
“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 implemented to support this regionally, from the United States Inflation Reduction Act to Australia’s Hydrogen Head start. However, there are still significant opportunities for private investment which remain untapped which are essential to driving the sector forward and supporting the infrastructure and technology required to accelerate the application of hydrogen.”
There are challenges which the industry must first overcome which prevent this from being a straight road to success. While hydrogen has been present in oil refineries for decades, the commercialisation of the gas is still in its relative infancy. With only a small number of major projects, there are few economies of scale.
Alex continued: “The hydrogen sector also requires specialist personnel. Many skills from traditional energy markets are transferrable, and this is why EnerMech can 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.”
EnerMech has a proven track record of successfully supporting several hydrogen projects globally, particularly in Australia. The firm recently completed a significant installation and pre-commissioning contract in the region for one of Asia Pacific’s first direct Methylcyclohexane (MCH) hydrogen pilot plants. The development will use renewable energy to generate hydrogen, with toluene mixed instantly to create MCH.
As the energy transition accelerates, H2 offers exponential opportunities for the traditional energy sector to apply its expertise to this thriving market. Alex said: “In the next 10 years, I hope to see hydrogen adopted as a common, domestic energy source globally. This requires significant global efforts, greater collaboration between operators and the supply chain, as well as trust building with the general public, which I firmly believe can be achieved as we strive towards this common goal to support a cleaner energy future.”