Ōtautahi – Europe and Japan are leading the world in terms of patent filings related to clean hydrogen, according to a new report. New Zealand is slow off the mark but things are happening.
Technologies related to producing hydrogen accounted for the largest number of hydrogen patents in 2011-2020. The automotive sector was the area of transport with the biggest jump in hydrogen-related patent filings.
In New Zealand, Meridian Energy is leading a project, Southern Green Hydrogen project, at Manapouri.
The project was proposed in June 2021 to explore the opportunity of producing green hydrogen in Southland following the announcement Rio Tinto would close its Tiwai Point aluminium smelter, primarily powered by a Meridian hydroelectric plant.
The vision is to build a 600 MW facility which would use the power from Meridian’s Manapouri hydro scheme to energise hydrogen electrolysers, targeting an annual production of 500,000 tonnes of ammonia.
Ports of Auckland has a hydrogen production and refuelling facility project, investing in hydrogen fuel-cell vehicles. The port wants to be at zero-emissions level by 2040.
New Zealand has considerable renewable energy resources that could be used to produce green hydrogen as a next generation, low-emissions fuel, MBIE says.
Green hydrogen has the potential to help reduce our emissions by replacing fossil fuels in some harder to decarbonise sectors, such as long-distance and heavy transport; iron, steel and chemicals production; and marine and aviation sectors.
Growing New Zealand’s hydrogen industry can help achieve its commitments to reduce net emissions of all greenhouse gases, except biogenic methane, to zero by 2050 and has the potential to support the Government’s goal of reaching 100 per cent renewable electricity by 2030.
Hydrogen can power cars, help produce steel, it could even heat homes. One of the best ways to measure innovation is through patent filings, and that is what a first-of-its-kind report from the International Energy Agency (IEA) and European Patents Office (EPO) does.
It takes global patent filing data to show what kinds of hydrogen developments are happening fastest, as well as where the world’s hydrogen hotspots are.
Europe and Japan are leading the pack in terms of patent numbers, closely followed by the US, says Hydrogen Patents for a Clean Energy Future. The EU filed 28 percent of all international patent families (IPFs) in hydrogen technologies in 2011-2020, with Japan on 24 percent and the US on 20 percent.
The EU is being led by three main clusters in Munich and the Ruhr area in Germany, and in the French capital of Paris.
Technologies related to producing hydrogen accounted for the largest number of hydrogen patents in 2011-2020. The main trend has been a significant shift towards low-emission production methods.
There is expected to be a 65-fold increase in the market size for electrolysers for carbon production this decade, as countries around the world look to slash their carbon emissions from areas including power generation. The automotive sector was the area of transport with the biggest jump in hydrogen-related patent filings.
