Renewable Sources of Energy

[Vayutuvan]

https://www.hydrogeninsight.com/electro ... -1-1797849

'Gut punch' | Green Hydrogen Systems lays off 89 employees amid financial difficulties
The electrolyser manufacturer maintains a 'core group' of employees to work through a planned corporate restructuring
Polly Martin
Senior Reporter
Published 26 March 2025, 05:31

Beleaguered Danish electrolyser firm Green Hydrogen Systems (GHS) has laid off 89 employees as part of its in-court company restructuring announced earlier this month, in an attempt to address its on-going financial difficulties.

The electrolyser manufacturer listed a staff of 297 in 2023, but in October 2024 it launched a cost-cutting programme which at the time it said would affect around 100 employees.

However, earlier this month, GHS applied for in-court corporate restructuring, a significant step towards declaring bankruptcy, after it found it could not meet its debt obligations.
...

[Vayutuvan]

https://www.hydrogeninsight.com/product ... -1-1794850

I am quoting only parts that are of interest to me. There is a table in there with more details.

India reveals nine winners of second green hydrogen auction, awarding subsidies worth $259m
Many of the bidders offset asking for the maximum subsidy payments in some years with extremely low bids elsewhere
...
This left Matrix Gas and Renewables as the only bidder left for the biomass-based pathway for just 1,500 tonnes of annual production capacity in a category that had been capped at 40,000 tonnes a year.

However, this extra capacity was awarded to bidders in Bucket 1, with the auction supporting 450,000 tonnes a year of H2 in total.
In the first auction, eight companies had won subsidies for their projects, with another two, UPL Limited and CESC Projects Limited, included in the list of winners despite not bidding for any subsidies at all.

[Cyrano]

Money that could have been better spent on accelerating our N power program. Or to support solar panel manufacturing for domestic and street lighting, standalone and isolated from the regular grid.

[Vayutuvan]

There are a couple of redeeming features in the above. More later.

[Cyrano]

Net Zero madness in UK explained:

[Vayutuvan]

Money that could have been better spent on accelerating our N power program. Or to support solar panel manufacturing for domestic and street lighting, standalone and isolated from the regular grid.

Silver lining is this.

1. It is a small spend. $80 million per year on the average for the next 3 years. The money is not given out already.

Biomethane plants do get subsidies of 25% of the project cost. But the investment had to be made upfront and the plant should be operating for six months before they can claim the 25% subsidy. If the rules are the same for GH, then subsidies will be given only if the plants start producing H.

2. Assuming that all those companies which are bidding for the GH projects have a technology/investment tie-up with foreign companies, then India gets the investment and technology of those foreign companies. Sure they would get royalties and license fee but India gets technology and investment.

3. There is a limit 40K tons on Biomass route which is good. Biomethane can be put into the grid and can replace imported NG on a one on one basis. India needs the Turquoise Hydrogen (that is the term for H from Methane) technology as well. If all other routes fail to produce H at the right price point, the H infrastructure need not be abandoned. TH can become GH by using Biomethane instead of NG.

Who is going to pick up the bill for failures, you might ask.

It would be the common stock holders, that is who. If some of these companies fail, there would consolidation and the healthier companies with better technology/process would take over the others.

It is good to know that Modi govt. is not going overboard as some folks here are claiming. The claim here was that GoI is spending 3 billion USD right away for GH.

I would like to see their sources for this 3 B USD figure.

[Cyrano]

Thanks Vayutuvan Garu. Let's see how this works out in a year or two.

[Cyrano]

What the hell is this? Anyone heard of Paramahamsa Tewari? Some very big claims being made with hardly any experimental data or theoretical framework. Why didn't he publish this anywhere? Or rope in an IIT to replicate his results independently?!
(Heard some old French professor talk about him in a randomly suggested video and looked him up)

[Amber G.]

Green hydrogen—produced using renewable energy through electrolysis—is positioned as a vital enabler of India’s goal to reach net-zero emissions by 2070. It offers a clean alternative to fossil-fuel-based hydrogen and can decarbonize hard-to-abate sectors like steel, cement, and long-distance transport...
Link:https://www.downtoearth.org.in/energy/g ... transition

[Vayutuvan]

This is 2005 news

https://www.enn.com/articles/3170

Researchers Convert Chicken Fat to Fuel
01 December 2005

Fuel is the thing with feathers. Hoping to find an efficient way to help power automobiles and trucks, researchers at the University of Arkansas say they have developed a way to convert chicken fat to a biodiesel fuel.

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — Fuel is the thing with feathers. Hoping to find an efficient way to help power automobiles and trucks, researchers at the University of Arkansas say they have developed a way to convert chicken fat to a biodiesel fuel.

"We're trying to expand the petroleum base," said Brian Mattingly, a graduate student in chemical engineering. "Five to 20 percent blending of biodiesel into petroleum-based diesel significantly reduces our dependence on foreign oil."

Mattingly's research allows biodiesel producers to assess different materials to see what works best. Producers will be able to choose the best way to convert different grades of chicken fat into fuels.

R.E. Babcock, a professor of chemical engineering, said chicken-fat fuels are better for the environment and the machines.
"They burn better, create less particulate matter and actually lubricate and clean things like cylinders, pistons and fuel lines," Babcock said.

Traditionally, biodiesel producers have used refined products like soybean oil because they are easier to convert to fuels. However, the refining process makes soybean oil more expensive -- and fuel producers must compete with grocers for the oil supply.

Chicken fat can be a less-expensive substitute because it is available at a low cost. However, fatty acids in raw chicken fat can lead to the creation of soap during the various chemical processes.

In his studies, Mattingly used high-quality fat (less than 2 percent fatty acid content) and low-quality, feed-grade fat (6 percent fatty acid content) obtained from Tyson Foods Inc. plants in Clarksville and Scranton. The high-quality fat is more expensive than the feed-grade fat, but both are less expensive than soybean oil.

It took different steps to refine the different fats, but it could be done, Mattingly said.
"The project demonstrated that there is a very fine line between facilitating an adequate reaction and generating so much soap that the biodiesel yield is diminished," Mattingly said. "Basically, deciding which method to use comes down to economics."

Michael Popp, an associate professor of agricultural economics, said it is too early to tell if making biodiesel fuel from chicken fat is economically feasible.

Source: Associated Press

20 years later, June 13 2025, we have this: https://www.enn.com/articles/3170

Chicken Fat-to-Fuel Project Is the Latest Green Muni Bond to Default
A Mississippi facility that raised $22 million in securities to help convert poultry waste into biodiesel has defaulted. That marks at least the second green bond default to hit the muni market this month.

Author of the article:Bloomberg News
Bloomberg News
Martin Z. Braun
Published Jun 13, 2025
2 minute read


The tax-exempt bonds with an 8% coupon were sold by the Mississippi Business Finance Corp. in December 2022 on behalf of Alden Group Renewable Energy. UMB Bank, which is the trustee for bondholders, said the borrower failed to make a June 2 interest payment. Earlier this month, about $40 million of green municipal bonds issued to build a cow manure-to-natural gas facility on a Wisconsin farm also defaulted.
...
Almost 10% of roughly $10 billion bond green industrial development or solid waste bonds are in default, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. From 1970 through 2023, the average 10-year annual default rate for municipal bonds rated by Moody’s was 0.15%.

Alden’s Mississippi renewable energy facility isn’t the only one in trouble. In January, local television station KTUL reported that an Alden facility in Tulsa, Oklahoma was closing.
...

BRF experts in this thread are predicting humongous yuge H economy in India by 2047. They are also predicting what will happen in 2100 as well. It would be post-energy-scarcity economy and all that good stuff. Good material for SF&F space operas or radical left commie stuff like Red Mars, Green Mars, and Blue Mars trilogy.