Friday 18th of October 2024

15 million tonne target he'd set for hydrogen fuel production gone...

Has Andrew Forrest's green hydrogen dream evaporated?

Even for the most begrudging, it's difficult, at least on some level, not to admire Andrew Forrest.

The indefatigable defiance, boundless energy and enthusiasm, combined with an unwillingness to concede defeat, have helped him build a business empire almost from scratch.

 

BY Ian Verrender/ABC

 

No setback has ever been too great — at least, not in public.

The smiling visage and matey good humour have always been employed to maximum benefit.

Along the way, and despite some cynicism around his motives, he's drummed up global support for battling modern slavery, brought the leaders of some of the world's biggest religions together to thrash out their differences and established a range of charities.

Few remember the failures — especially the debacle surrounding his first major corporate outing, Anaconda Nickel, during the 1990s — and the personal battles he fought attempting to overcome the stigma.

Now, he's facing troubles on his most recent adventure: his enormous bet on the future of clean energy and, in particular, hydrogen.

In the past week, he's been forced to dramatically scale back his ambitions, unveiling a plan to sack up to 700 workers and postpone the ambitious 15 million tonne target he'd set for hydrogen fuel production by the end of the decade.

It's a measure that sent waves of concerns through the halls of power in Canberra after the Albanese government's recent push to create a hydrogen hub in Western Australia's Pilbara.

It also runs counter to years of rhetoric and the high-profile war of words with rival entrepreneurs such as Tesla founder Elon Musk.

This time last year, Forrest stood on stage at a conference in Morocco and stunned attendees with a colourful dressing down of the electric car pioneer.

"Anyone, including Elon, including, you know, whoever you like, who says hydrogen hasn't got a massive future, are muppets."

In typical fashion, Forrest hasn't conceded in his sudden about turn.

As he explained to Sarah Ferguson on 730 this week, the blame could be sheeted home to Vladimir Putin's invasion of Ukraine, which sent power prices surging.

Elsewhere, through the day, he put it more succinctly.

"We need lower power prices, hydrogen is directly a function of the electricity cost.

"If the electricity cost is high, then we can't make hydrogen cheaply enough to compete with fossil fuels."

There is just one problem with his argument.

While he is correct that you need low electricity prices to economically produce hydrogen fuel, green hydrogen, by definition, should be unaffected by the soaring cost of fossil fuels, particularly in the long term.

What went wrong?

Not everyone is unhappy with the backflip.

FMG investors and analysts have long been concerned about the extent and speed to which the company has expanded into renewable energy and the overlapping connections with Forrest's private ventures.

Since late January, when FMG's share price hit a record just shy of $30, it has shed almost one-third its value.

And for much of the past year, the company's senior management ranks have been a revolving door with senior staff and directors coming and going at dizzying speed.

There are two major problems plaguing the company's ambitious plunge into hydrogen fuel.

The most obvious is that hydrogen is prohibitively costly to produce, which means it has difficulty competing with fossil fuels.

And the second is that Fortescue's plunge into renewables (more than 100 wind, solar and hydrogen projects around the world) has ultimately been funded by good, old-fashioned iron ore.

The vast shiploads of red dirt from Western Australia's Pilbara have provided rivers of cash for Forrest's company, Australia's third-biggest iron ore producer.

But iron ore prices have dropped almost 40 per cent since the start of the year.

That's primarily due to the woes that have beset China's economy.

Its property sector is in meltdown, growth is slowing and Beijing appears reluctant to once again spray around the stimulus cash.

Whenever this has happened in the past, it has been Fortescue's enormous debt burden that put it under pressure.

While it still has large borrowings, this time around, it is the spending commitments on its energy division that are adding to the pressure and the inevitability that it would once again need to take on huge debt to succeed.

Batteries 1, Hydrogen 0

There are some simple dynamics working against hydrogen as a fuel.

It might be more efficient than petrol but it doesn't rate against a battery-driven vehicle.

When it comes to batteries, roughly 70 per cent of the original energy produced at the source performs useful work in the vehicle.

With hydrogen, that drops to between 25 per cent and 30 per cent, while internal combustion engines at best deliver 20 per cent efficiency.

That means the solar, hydro, and wind farms need to deliver more than double the energy for the same result in a hydrogen car.

Hydrogen and oxygen form a tight bond, which is why there is so much water in the world. Separating them requires energy and each additional step, such as making fertiliser, requires even more energy.

The pipes and tanks required to transport and store hydrogen are more expensive to build and maintain.

On top of that, the technology around battery construction and performance is improving rapidly, lowering costs and lifting efficiency.

Forrest's decision to concentrate on producing renewable energy and delivering to the grid and perhaps adapting that to producing green steel down the track makes a great deal more sense.

At least for now.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-07-21/green-hydrogen-forrest-fortescue/104120492

 

SEE ALSO: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-05-24/forrest-group-walk-free-warns-slavery-threat-solar-panels/102383470

A human rights group funded by mining magnate Andrew Forrest has warned of the rapidly rising risks of modern slavery and forced labour in the world's renewable energy supply chains.

hot hot hot.....

 

Sunday 21st July 2024 was earth’s hottest day on record    By Olivia Rosane

 

July 21 was Earth’s hottest day on record, overtaking the record set last July during the hottest year in millennia.

The European Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S) found that Sunday’s average air surface temperature soared to 17.09°C , or 62.76°F, according to preliminary data. While that is only 0.1°C warmer than the previous record—set on July 6, 2023—it was nearly 0.3°C higher than the pre-2023 record, set at 16.8°C on August 13, 2016.

“What is truly staggering is how large the difference is between the temperature of the last 13 months and the previous temperature records,” C3S Director Carlo Buontempo said in a statement. “We are now in truly uncharted territory and as the climate keeps warming, we are bound to see new records being broken in future months and years.”

The news follows a year of shattered temperature records as El Niño combined with the climate emergency to heat air and ocean to levels well above average. While El Niño conditions ended in April, scientists still predict that 2024 could overtake 2023 as the hottest year on record.

As of June 2024, the past 13 months have all been the hottest of their kind on record. June 2024 was also the 12th month in a row to see its average temperature meet or surpass 1.5°C above preindustrial levels—the most ambitious temperature goal enshrined in the Paris agreement.

Scientists have warned that the only way to keep global temperatures from rising further is to rapidly phase out the use of oil, gas, and coal and transition to renewable energy.

“These recurring record-breaking temperatures are a scorching red flag, but it’s not too late to reverse course.”

Before Sunday, the last hottest day on record was July 6, 2023, which was also the fourth consecutive day to break that record. The previous record was set at 17.08°C, or 62.74°F, according to Copernicus. However, since the 2016 temperature record was first broken on July 3, 2023, 57 days in the past year have also surpassed it.

What’s more, C3S found that the last 10 years have been the 10 years on record with the highest average daily temperatures.

“The difference in the highest daily average temperature between the lowest ranked of those 10 years (2015) and the previous record before 2023 (13 August 2016) was 0.2°C. The jump from the 2016 record to 2023/2024 is about 0.3°C, highlighting how substantial the warmth of 2023 and 2024,” C3S said.

Record-breaking temperatures have also brought extreme weather.

On Sunday, Florida meteorologist Jeff Berardelli wrote on social media that “the most anomalously warm places were Antarctica and Western Canada where several hundred wildfires blaze, many out of control.”

C3S also said that Sunday’s record was in part driven by “much-above-average temperatures over large parts of Antarctica.”

The warmest day on record also coincided with heatwaves in Russia, Europe, and the U.S., Reuters reported.

C3S predicted that temperatures would continue to rise in the short term.

“In the coming days, we are expecting the daily global average temperature to further increase and peak around 22 or 23 July 2024 and then go down, but with possible further fluctuations in the coming weeks,” the agency said.

In the longer term, temperature trends will depend on whether policymakers can take ambitious action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and halt the destruction of natural carbon sinks.

“These recurring record-breaking temperatures are a scorching red flag, but it’s not too late to reverse course,” Oceana Campaign director Joseph Gordon said in a statement. “When you’re on the path to destruction, the best thing you can do is turn around.”

Gordon recommended one thing U.S. President Joe Biden in particular could do to stop runaway climate change.

“One of the most immediate and impactful ways to address greenhouse gas emissions is to prevent new offshore drilling in the United States,” Gordon said. “Offshore drilling drives climate change throughout its entire process. President Biden must permanently protect our coasts from offshore drilling and move us toward a clean energy future.”

 

Republished from Common Dreams, July 23, 2024