Three leading engineering and technology companies have agreed to work together to create a template for the development and operation of green hydrogen projects.

Australian engineering firm Worley, Switzerland-headquartered technology group ABB and US technology group IBM have signed a memorandum of understanding to collaborate on the creation of a repeatable end-to-end concept that developers can use to scale up capacity more quickly and ultimately achieve lower production costs. The planned relationship is subject to all parties reaching definitive agreements.

“By fast-tracking and standardising how we engineer-design-operate, this collaboration is expected to reduce the levelised cost of green hydrogen and help our customers to decarbonise their operations further,” says Chris Gill, senior vice-president of low-carbon hydrogen at Worley.

While many industries want to invest in green hydrogen, high production costs pose a barrier to driving market adoption and achieving scale over natural gas or blue hydrogen, the three companies say. In addition, production facilities require an accessible and abundant renewable energy supply.

“By fast-tracking and standardising how we engineer-design-operate, this collaboration is expected to reduce the levelised cost of green hydrogen” Gill, Worley

Worley says the project will build on the findings set out in a paper on scaling up green hydrogen, which it wrote together with Princeton University. The paper highlights the need for standard concepts developers can use repeatedly as they scale up capacity.

Under the collaboration, Worley will provide engineering, procurement and construction expertise across all stages of the project. ABB will supply offerings for electrical infrastructure, energy management, automation, and operational digitalisation and optimisation. IBM will provide systems integration services as well as data framework and management solutions. Together, the three parties will provide operations and maintenance services, leveraging their combined digital expertise.

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Author: Stuart Penson