BalticHydrogenGroup OU (BHG), a fully integrated green hydrogen production and distribution company in the Baltics, is proud to announce the successful completion of a partial seed round investment from HelioFidem UK Ltd., a UK-based renewable energy company specializing in solar energy and battery energy storage systems (BESS). This strategic investment, structured as a convertible loan note, was finalized earlier this month and marks a significant milestone in BHG’s mission to establish a robust hydrogen infrastructure across the Baltic region.

The partnership with HelioFidem will enable BHG to accelerate the development of its hydrogen production and distribution network, beginning with the Proof of Concept at Berze Mill, a historical water mill with an operational hydropower station and a planned photovoltaic park. This initial phase will include small-scale hydrogen production, which will pave the way for BHG’s ambitious hydrogen valley project in Latvia in collaboration with other local stakeholders. These projects, aimed at creating sustainable alternative fuel sources, are aligned with BHG’s broader goal of fostering a cleaner, net-zero future through renewable energy. By leveraging HelioFidem’s expertise and resources, both companies are positioned for mutual growth and expansion into new verticals within the renewable energy sector.

This initial investment is a critical steppingstone that will facilitate the onboarding of subsequent rounds of funding necessary for the further development of BHG’s projects. It will also contribute to the maturation of project initiatives across the Baltic countries, ensuring that BHG is well-positioned to lead the region’s transition to a green economy, providing substantial environmental benefits and new economic opportunities.

With commitments from key stakeholders and this new financial backing, BHG is well-equipped to realize its vision of transforming the Baltic region into a hub for sustainable hydrogen energy.

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About HelioFidem

Founded in 2021, HelioFidem Group is a renewable energy development and investment organization focused on utility-scale solar PV and battery energy storage systems (BESS) in the UK, Europe, and USA. The team brings together over 50 years in collective renewables experience, and has an active development portfolio of 900+ MW globally.

Building on early successes in its home markets of the UK and USA, HelioFidem has expanded to Ireland in 2023 and Sweden in 2024, where it is actively developing pipelines with its local partners.

HelioFidem is committed to a holistic view of the global renewable energy transition.  From its foundation in solar and battery storage, the Group is also growing a portfolio of strategic investments and activities in complementary technologies and solutions – including biomass, carbon credit certification management & trade, and most-recently green hydrogen.

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Due to the recent spike in gas prices, green hydrogen made with renewable energy is currently cheaper to produce than grey hydrogen made from natural gas, according to London-based analytics company icis.

ICIS calculated that the price of grey hydrogen reached highs of £6 per kilogram (kg) in the UK in early October, an increase from £1.43/kg in April. Meanwhile, the price of green hydrogen under a renewable energy power purchase agreement (PPA) of £45 per megawatt hour (MWh) has remained constant, at £3.39/kg.

Blue hydrogen produced from natural gas with carbon capture and storage (CCS) is even more expensive than grey hydrogen due to the added costs of CCS, the analysis states.

This price correlation extends to Europe, says ICIS. “Gas and power prices have surged across the continent, therefore any [renewable] PPA-derived hydrogen around the region we modelled would likely be competitive now.”

Although the price of blue and grey hydrogen would fall with a drop in the cost of natural gas, the price volatility seen this year highlights the risks of continuing to rely on imported fossil fuels for Europe’s energy, the analysis concludes.

A new Emergen Research hydrogen fuel cell market analysis showed that the market size reached $4.26 in 2021 and is predicted to achieve a 22.8 percent CAGR from that year through until 2030, the end of the forecast period.

Rising demand for the zero-emission technology as backup power is the market’s primary driver.

Hydrogen fuel cell-based backup power is being adopted to an increasing degree by data centers due to their zero carbon emissions, high efficiency, and reliable power performance. The Emergen Research report points to this trend as a primary driver for revenue growth in this market throughout the length of their forecast period.

Energy centers are increasingly looking to the technology as an energy cost-saving opportunity to decrease the amount of wasted energy when power is generated. Furthermore, their reliability as a power source means that they can be confident there will be continuous power for extended period of time if needed. This is a critical feature for data centers, which require a reliable power source to ensure smoother operations.

Several organizations have been adopting hydrogen fuel cell backup power sources for their data centers.

Last August, Microsoft tested fuel cells as backup power for its own data centers, calling the test a success when the tech performed precisely as hoped. This showed the technology giant – and other companies around the world – the potential for replacing conventional diesel-powered generators with practical, zero-carbon emission equipment that offered a considerably more practical experience than what batteries could have provided. In fact, at that time, Microsoft director of data center research Sean James called it their equivalent to a “moon landing.”

Last February, NorthC, a data center company from the Netherlands announced that it was replacing its backup power generators at its Groningen facility to equipment powered by green hydrogen. This, according to the company, represented a first for data centers in Europe.

The NorthC backup system consists of a 500KW hydrogen fuel cell module that is expected to reduce the location’s diesel consumption by tens of thousands of liters of diesel per year. This will also avoid the production of about 78,000 kilograms of carbon dioxide emissions per year.

The EU member states are currently in the process of dynamic changes related to the energy transformation and the decarbonisation of the European economy. Hydrogen is expected to be one of the key fuels in the EU’s energy transformation.

Now, the gas transmission systems operators (TSOs) are moving in good collaboration from European Hydrogen Backbone (EHB) vision to action. On December 14, 2022 TSOs from six EU countries signed a cooperation agreement on a cross border project, Nordic-Baltic Hydrogen Corridor.

The European TSOs Gasgrid Finland (Finland), Elering (Estonia), Conexus Baltic Grid (Latvia), Amber Grid (Lithuania), GAZ-SYSTEM (Poland) and ONTRAS (Germany) have signed a cooperation agreement to develop hydrogen infrastructure from Finland through Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland to Germany to meet the REPowerEU 2030 targets.

The TSOs have initiated a project called Nordic-Baltic Hydrogen Corridor that will strengthen region’s energy security, reduce the dependency of imported fossil energy and play a prominent role in decarbonising societies and energy-intensive industries along the corridor.

It also has significant potential to contribute to the EU’s greenhouse gas emission reduction target by replacing today’s fossil-based production and fossil fuel consumption in industry, transport sector, electricity and heating, with these based on new renewable fuel, i.e., green hydrogen.

Nordic-Baltic Hydrogen Corridor supports diversification of energy supplies, and accelerated roll-out of renewable energy allowing in particular for achieving the EU target of 10 million tonnes of domestic renewable hydrogen production by 2030.

The corridor can transport green hydrogen produced in the Baltic Sea area to supply consumption points and industrial clusters along the whole corridor, as well as in central Europe.

In addition, when the hydrogen infrastructure develops further around the Baltic Sea, a strong market for hydrogen can be created enabling access to abundantly available and competitive renewable energy resources.

The project strongly supports EU hydrogen strategy and REPowerEU plan. In addition, the Nordic-Baltic Hydrogen Corridor will support several regional and EU climate targets, such as the EU Green Deal, Fit for 55 package.

Going forward

Taking into account the complexity of the project, project partners take proactive steps toward project implementation. In 2023, during the first phase of the project development, the project partners will conduct a pre-feasibility study.

Based on the pre-feasibility study recommendations, a decision on continuation of the project development would be made. Following phases in the project would include engineering and permitting phase, construction and commissioning.

Why are Gulf oil and gas producers so keen to promote hydrogen energy? This question is addressed in a new discussion paper by Natalie Koch, political geographer and fellow at the Institute for Advanced Sustainability Studies (IASS). She concludes that for political and corporate leaders in the Gulf states, pivoting towards hydrogen serves to maintain the social, political, and economic status quo. Questions of energy justice are likely to remain, however.

The oil- and gas-producing countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) are famous for their economic dependence on the hydrocarbon system, with revenues from oil and gas exports accounting for the bulk of state finances. The GCC, also known as the Gulf Council, was established in 1981 in Abu Dhabi by Bahrain, Qatar, Kuwait, Oman, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates. The GCC fosters cooperation in the areas of foreign and security policy, promotes economic and scientific cooperation, and works to strengthen ties between the peoples of its member states.

Across the Gulf states there is broad resistance to moving away from oil and gas economies, writes Natalie Koch, IASS Fellow and Professor of Human Geography at the University of Heidelberg. Alternative energy aspirations are nonetheless spreading in the region – especially among the younger generation.

Solar power has received the most attention and funding within the GCC over the past decade, writes Koch. However, renewable energy generation capacities across the region are still negligible, as Koch explains: At the end of 2020, the region had 146 GW of installed power capacity, of which renewables accounted for 3,271 MW. Of this, solar PV technologies were the most dominant technology (71%), followed by concentrated solar power (23%), biomass and waste (4%), and wind (2%).

Now the Gulf region is shifting its focus to hydrogen. As Koch explains, local leaders have both an economic and political interest in joining the hydrogen rush, with the Dubai Future Foundation announcing its intention to help hydrogen energy “move from hype to reality”.

96 percent of hydrogen currently produced from fossil fuels in Gulf states

In the Gulf states fossil fuels are currently used to produce 96 percent of hydrogen. The bulk of this is produced using natural gas in a process called “steam methane reforming” (SMR). The resulting product is referred to as “gray hydrogen”, while “brown hydrogen” derives from coal gasification. Both methods of production are greenhouse gas intensive. So-called “blue hydrogen” is also produced through natural gas-SMR. However, this production process is categorized differently as it is paired with carbon capture and storage (CCS). As very little of the hydrogen produced today is “green”, blue hydrogen is commonly framed as a bridge to a green future.

The limited capacity of renewables in the Gulf is significant for the story that blue hydrogen production will just be a short build-up to the ultimate goal of green hydrogen production – without vast renewable energy capacities, there will be no green hydrogen. According to Koch, existing solar farms in the Gulf states are “little more than a drop in the bucket of their overall energy mix”, which continues to be dominated by oil and gas.

She suggests that if the myth that blue hydrogen is a minor detour on the road to green hydrogen takes hold internationally – as it seems to have done in some parts of the world – then these privileged industries are especially well positioned to tap into their existing infrastructures to produce blue hydrogen for potentially decades. As energy insiders know, writes Koch, “Once infrastructure is in place, path dependency has an astonishing power to keep people buying even after they realize that the myth of a “green” future has been a lie all along.”

Business as usual in a new hydrogen economy?

With a new hydrogen economy, much of the Gulf states’ existing oil and gas infrastructures could continue to be used. For example, there is already an established practice of producing hydrogen at oil refineries. In addition, it can be stored and transported through many of the existing infrastructures. Domestic production of hydrogen in the Gulf is seen as a way to maintain local industries that are only economically viable today because of their access to cheap, subsidized fossil energy, such as the steel, aviation and shipping industries.

Koch suggests that Gulf leaders could use hydrogen initiatives to show that they recognize their countries’ challenges and that they are “doing something” and demonstrate the paternalist care that is an important part of their local legitimacy. There is a risk, she warns, that Gulf states could appropriate the hydrogen dream as a strategic tool in preserving authoritarianism, as it offers opportunities to maintain economic and political power structures within the context of a global energy transition. However this process plays out, questions of energy justice are bound to remain.

The ground test was conducted on an early concept demonstrator using green hydrogen created by wind and tidal power. It marks a major step towards proving that hydrogen could be a zero carbon aviation fuel of the future and is a key proof point in the decarbonisation strategies of both Rolls-Royce and easyJet.

Rolls-Royce AE 2100 Engine !

The Rolls-Royce AE 2100 is a turboprop developed by Allison Engine Company, now part of Rolls-Royce North America. The engine was originally known as the GMA 2100.

While Saab 2000 Turboprop used the GMA 2100 in 1989 , Lockheed Martin and Alenia used the AE 2100 for its C-27J Spartantactical airlifter In June 1997. 

General Performance Using Aviation Turbine Fuel :

• Maximum power output : 4,637 shp (3,458 kW).
• Overall pressure ratio : 16.6:1
• Air mass flow : 36 lb/s (16.3 kg/s)[16]: 83–84 .
• Specific fuel consumption : Takeoff: 0.460 lb/(hp⋅h) (0.209 kg/(hp⋅h); 0.280 kg/kWh).
• Power-to-weight ratio : 2.76 shp/lb (4.54 kW/kg).

Both companies have set out to prove that hydrogen can safely and efficiently deliver power for civil aero engines and are already planning a second set of tests, with a longer-term ambition to carry out flight tests.

The test took place at an outdoor test facility at MoD Boscombe Down, UK, using a converted Rolls-Royce AE 2100-A regional aircraft engine. Green hydrogen for the tests was supplied by EMEC (European Marine Energy Centre), generated using renewable energy at their hydrogen production and tidal test facility on Eday in the Orkney Islands, UK.

Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, Grant Shapps, said :

“The UK is leading the global shift to guilt-free flying, and today’s test by Rolls-Royce and easyJet is an exciting demonstration of how business innovation can transform the way we live our lives.

“This is a true British success story, with the hydrogen being used to power the jet engine today produced using tidal and wind energy from the Orkney Islands of Scotland – and is a prime example of how we can work together to make aviation cleaner while driving jobs across the country.”

Grazia Vittadini , Chief Technology Officer, Rolls-Royce, said :

“The success of this hydrogen test is an exciting milestone. We only announced our partnership with easyJet in July and we are already off to an incredible start with this landmark achievement. We are pushing the boundaries to discover the zero carbon possibilities of hydrogen, which could help reshape the future of flight.”

Johan Lundgren, CEO of easyJet, said: “This is a real success for our partnership team. We are committed to continuing to support this ground-breaking research because hydrogen offers great possibilities for a range of aircraft, including easyJet-sized aircraft. That will be a huge step forward in meeting the challenge of net zero by 2050.”

Following analysis of this early concept ground test, the partnership plans a series of further rig tests leading up to a full-scale ground test of a Rolls-Royce Pearl 15 jet engine.

The partnership is inspired by the global, UN-backed Race to Zero campaign that both companies have signed up to, committing to achieve net zero carbon emissions by 2050.