Hydrogen Economy: What is the Way Forward for Malaysia?

Concerns on energy security and climate change risks are making headlines in recent years. Hence, plenty of discussions have centred on the feasible solutions to these matters.

Among the most popular solutions is, to incorporate the use of hydrogen as the primary source of energy of the future.

On that note, ASM organised the 12th General Assembly to discuss on Hydrogen Economy and the value propositions for Malaysia to gain initial input from experts and industry players on the topic.

ASM facilitated this discourse on the Hydrogen Economy and its value propositions of Malaysian in support of current efforts by the Malaysian Government to enhance renewable energy contribution to its energy mix.

Thus, the General Assembly was organised to gain initial input from experts and industry players on this topic.

The discourse was conducted in a forum format with a panel comprising:

• Professor Dato’ Ir Dr Wan Ramli Wan Daud FASc (Moderator, ASM Fellow)
• Mr Colin Patrick (Head of Innovation, Group Research & Technology (GR&T), Project Delivery & Technology (PD&T), PETRONAS)
• Ir Noraziah Muda @ Omar (Principal Researcher, Renewable Energy & Green Technology Unit, TNB Research Sdn Bhd)
• Professor Dato’ Ir Dr A Bakar Jaafar FASc (ASM Fellow and Director, UTM Ocean Thermal Energy Centre (OTEC))
• Dr Muhammad Abdullah Zaidel (Special Administrative Officer to the Right Hon. Chief Minister of Sarawak (Project Strategy and Coordination)
• Mr Diganta Sarma (Linde Gas Asia Pte Ltd)

Dato’ Wan Ramli started the forum with an overview of the current world energy scenario.

Continuing his presentation, he stated that burning of fossil fuels creates greenhouse gases, which contributes significantly to global warming and climate change. Efforts to limit temperature rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius must include diversifying fuel resources to include alternative and renewable energy sources.

He went on to expand on Malaysia’s energy policies, from the Petroleum Development Act of 1974 to the most current Fuel Cell & Hydrogen Blueprint 2017. This trajectory shows that Malaysia is ready to embrace renewable resources as an energy source as a way forward.

Mr Colin Patrick’s presentation followed Dato’ Wan Ramli’s, presenting PETRONAS’ Hydrogen Vision. The company will view hydrogen as a decarbonisation solution, by managing carbon dioxide emission across its value chain, and view hydrogen as an enabler for potential business growth.

Ir Noraziah Muda @ Omar was up next, providing Tenaga Nasional Berhad’s take on the hydrogen market in Malaysia.

According to Ir Noraziah, there are three steps on the hydrogen economy value chain: hydrogen generation, hydrogen distribution and storage and hydrogen applications.

Ir Noraziah went on to elaborate on the role of hydrogen in the electricity supply industry (ESI). Hydrogen is an excellent energy carrier given its inherent potential to act as a buffer to increase system resilience. This is due to hydrogen having a longer discharge duration and larger capacity compared to other energy storage and energy carrier technologies. This comes in handy, especially when it comes to applications in the heavy transportation and industrial sector.

Hydrogen also excels in power generation, both as a stationary and portable power source. Portable hydrogen power sources are utilised in consumer electronics, business machinery and recreational devices, which use methanol or hydrogen as the fuel. Hydrogen also plays a role in the decarbonisation pathway, where it is used to hydrogenate carbon dioxide into valuable products.

Following this, Ir Noraziah elaborates in TNB’s research and development in hydrogen energy, starting with TNB’s Technology Roadmap 1 (TRM1) in 2004 that identified hydrogen as one of the enablers under Proactive Environmental Management Theme. According to Ir Noraziah, TNB since 2016 have applied hydrogen in carbon capture and utilisation and carrying out technology benchmarking.

Utilising hydrogen in ESI is not without its challenges; Ir Noraziah cited an unattractive local market, environmental implications as well as technology maturity as main hurdles in implementing hydrogen economy for ESI.

Next up to present his views was Professor Dato’ Ir Dr A. Bakar Jaafar FASc. He stated that pricing of energy, irrespective of the source and form; by comparison, hydrogen is a more economical fuel. Dato’ A. Bakar illustrated that at ideal conditions, a hydrogen-powered vehicle has better mileage and lower cost per kilometre, compared to cars with internal combustion.

In his presentation, Dato’ A. Bakar proposed several policy measures to overcome the barriers in renewable energy development. He suggested a “fair pricing” of energy. He also suggested a national carbon trading or tax scheme utilising a “polluters pay” principle by inciting cost on carbon dioxide emissions.

Dato’ A. Bakar also proposed for a carbon-to-hydrogen fund be established, to be contributed by carbon-emitting organisations and be used as much for the promotion, development, and commercialisation of hydrogen fuel production, storage, transport, logistics, and delivery to end-users.

Dr Muhammad Abdullah Bin Zaidel’s presentation focused on Sarawak’s plans to harness hydrogen as a source of energy.

He detailed on the chronology of events that led to the growing interest and utilisation in the Land of the Hornbills by working with companies such as Linde, Shell Energy and Samsung Engineering.

He went on to report on the status of Sarawak’s Hydrogen Pilot Project, which as of March 2019 is at 90.6 per cent progress. Its first filling of hydrogen vehicles is slated to be in May 2019, which includes two Hyundai NEXO hydrogen vehicles and three hydrogen buses.

Dr Zaidel also detailed Sarawak’s plan in taking the next step in including hydrogen in its economy, such as a light rail transit system in Kuching as well as hydrogen production plants that will open up plenty of business opportunities in chemical feedstock, public transport and producing commercial hydrogen for export.

To round up the discussion, Mr Diganta Sarma provided his point of view of the hydrogen economy from an industrial standpoint as well.

Linde’s vision is to achieve a 60 per cent carbon dioxide emission compared to 2015 levels. Mr Diganta said that the company will achieve this via a two-pronged strategy that includes decarbonisation by utilising hydrogen as an energy carrier, and application of hydrogen, in particular its mobility and transportation.

According to Mr Diganta, hydrogen’s superior gravimetric energy density makes it the most suitable alternative for large-scale storage of renewable energy that will increase lifespan of electricity from zero to infinity.

He went on to elaborate Linde’s strategy to integrate hydrogen int the whole value chain, such as production and supply, technology and also application. He highlighted that in terms of application, maturity has been reached by Linde, as shown by its many achievements in the mobility as well as industry and energy sectors.

Mr Diganta also detailed on several initiatives carried out by countries such as China, the European Union and Japan to mainstream hydrogen as a source of clean and renewable energy.

Based on this discourse on Hydrogen Economy in Malaysia, ASM is hoping to develop a position paper on the Hydrogen Economy opportunities, implications and possible policy recommendations for consideration by the Government.

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