Green hydrogen startup spotlight: Advanced Ionics

Heather Johnstone spotlights Advanced Ionics, a new startup venture cutting the costs of green hydrogen production via innovative electrolyser solutions.

Green hydrogen has enormous potential in helping Europe and the rest of the world decarbonise, especially in hard-to-abate sectors, such as heavy industry or heating. But realising this is not without its challenges and one of the most significant is the high cost of green hydrogen compared to either grey or blue.

Having said that, BloombergNEF released a study earlier this year that concluded the sky-rocketing gas prices, brought on by the war in Ukraine, may already mean that green hydrogen is now at cost parity.

According to its Ukraine War Makes Green Hydrogen Competitive study, grey hydrogen now has a levelised cost of $6.71/kg in the EMEA region, while for green or renewable hydrogen it’s $4.84-6.68/kg. Although positive news, we must not allow it to mask what we need to do.

If we’re serious about green hydrogen being a vital part of our energy mix going forward, its cost cannot be dependent on the price of gas (sound familiar?). It must become cost competitive in its own right by bringing its levelised cost down to below $2/kg by 2030.

No easy feat, but it is here where innovation and innovators have a vital role. And one such innovator is Advanced Ionics.

Also of interest:
Shell’s Holland Hydrogen 1 – building block of Europe’s green hydrogen economy
EU and Egypt unite behind green hydrogen and a just transition

To learn more about the company and how they are advancing green hydrogen, I spoke to Advanced Ionics CEO, Chad Mason:

What is your green hydrogen solution and what are its USPs?

We have developed a new class of electrolyser utilising symbiotic electrolysis that enables green hydrogen production that’s cost competitive with dirty fossil-fuel based hydrogen production. Our solution dramatically reduces the electricity requirements of green hydrogen compared to our competition by tapping into the energy from industrial waste heat.

Waste heat and steam at industrial sites is ubiquitous and already in regular industrial use. We are the only solution that taps into this benefit in a simple manner, combined with the lowest electricity requirements, enabling the lowest-cost green hydrogen.

How does your solution genuinely contribute to the successful transition to a low-carbon future?

To be fully decarbonised, industries requires zero-carbon feedstock to operate. Hydrogen is a major feedstock to industry. Our solution has been built from the ground up to provide the lowest cost, zero-carbon green hydrogen specifically for heavy industry in an easy to use, scalable, modular format.

What have the milestones been so far, and what are the next ones?

We have achieved successful proof of concept of the technology, development of our own systems and balance of plant, and a 20-times scale-up in size of our cell. The next milestones we are reaching are demonstration pilots, performance and maintenance during accelerated durability testing, and further 8-times scale-up.

What words of wisdom do you have for other start-ups beginning their entrepreneurial journey?

Number one thing is to surround yourself with partners that believe in the same mission as you; thus you need to get buy-in from the initial people you choose to work with, including employees, advisors, investors, and demonstration partners.