Does Malaysia have a hydrogen (H2) road map that can guide Malaysians towards sustainable motoring and pioneer a renewable energy source that supersedes the intermittency of solar voltaic?
A Malaysia Renewable Energy Roadmap (MyRER) was published in 2021 by the Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources but this statement of intent will need to be re-validated following the 2022 elections that swept in a new “Unity” Government.
That ministry is now re-constituted as the Ministry of Natural Resources, Environment and Climate Change.
While Energy is King, a renewable and low-cost source is even more exalted. It’s in this realm that most countries have R&D budgets to study the Holy Grail of pollution-free fuel including H2, and its electrolysis by renewable energy known as green H2.
As well Malaysia which identified H2 fuel cells as priority research for development since the Eighth Malaysia Plan (2001–2005).
Predating that, Malaysian academia such as Abu Bakar Jaafar, started their green journey after submitting his Internship Report as a partial requirement for a Master’s degree in Environmental Science at Miami University of Ohio, USA in 1976 regarding conversion of solar energy into H2.
After four decades, on Dec 28, 2022, Abu Bakar proposed a framework for a Hydrogen Road Map for Malaysia starting with the establishment of a Petronas-equivalent ocean thermal energy company, to be named Ocean Thermal Energy Nasional Berhad (Otenas).
Speaking at the UMT International Conference on Emerging Technologies & Sustainability in late December, the professor said that the price of green H2 produced by a theoretical ocean thermal energy conversion plant would help make an H2-powered Toyota Mirai run cheaper than an internal combustion engine.
“In the tropics, ocean thermal energy is the most abundant source of renewable energy, much more than hydroelectric, solar and biomass. There’s not that much wind, wave, current or tide.
“Since there are multiple streams of revenues that could be generated from the application of ocean thermal energy conversion (OTEC) technology, the cost of electricity generated is very competitive; and thus, the cost of green H2 production: 80% of it, is the power cost.
Abu Bakar added, even at the current high price of green H2, it could be demonstrated that H2-Fuel Cell powered vehicles are already competitive, and more competitive than the existing internal combustion engine vehicles, including those that use subsidised fossil fuels,” said Prof. Bakar in his paper “Prospects of Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion (OTEC)-driven Development for Sustainability in Malaysia: Proposed Formation of OTENAS”.
“In Malaysia, it has been established that ocean thermal energy has the potential capacity of over 26,000 MW. Such potential has been realised in Kumejima, Okinawa, Japan; and Hawaii, USA.
“The Korean Research Institute of Shipping and Ocean Engineering (KRISO) has just commissioned, in late September 2019, a 1-MW Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion (OTEC) plant which will be installed in Kiribati. A 10-MW OTEC plant has been designed for the Martinique Territory of France in the Caribbean.
“In short, OTEC technology, considered one of the 21 most impactful emerging technologies in this century, is the only energy conversion technology that generates not only competitive pricing of energy but also highly beneficial mineral water and high-value marine products such as sea foods,” explained Abu Bakar during a physical and virtual conference in December 2022.
China uses a lot of fossil-fuel-derived H2 for fertilisers and as an energy-importing nation, it has had a series of plans for green H2.
Today, China is already the third-largest fuel cell electric vehicle (FCEV) market and the first for fuel cell trucks and buses in the world.
Using low-carbon sources to produce hydrogen and using clean hydrogen in various industrial sectors would help mitigate China’s carbon emissions.
More recently, Reuters reported that India would announce by May this year a USD2 billion programme to subsidise green H2 projects that qualify. Quoting unidentified sources, the news agency reported that India’s government aimed to nurture the green H2 initiatives being undertaken by South Asia’s corporate giants including Reliance Industries and Adani Enterprises.
Closer to home, Sarawak is already in the H2 club with its hydro-sourced electricity to electrolyse water into H2. There are one or two fuel-cell buses serving a Kuching river-front inner city route, understandably more for the learning experience than as an actual public transport.
On 17 January 2023, the Sarawak Economic Development Corporation (SEDC) announced that it would start manufacturing electrolysers in Kuching by 2024. These electrolysers will generate H2 to fuel its Autonomous Rapid Transit (ART) system.
Sarawak will invest RM6 billion in a Kuching urban transportation system called the Autonomous Rapid Transit (ART) that will be the first in the world to use H2 fuel-cell powered autonomous buses (no driver, hundred per cent punctuality).
As announced by Sarawak Premier Datuk Abang Johari, construction of the first line between Summer Mall in Kuching City – 70km to the East towards Samarahan region started on Dec 16, 2022, and is scheduled to begin testing in 2024.
On this note, a green H2 plan centred on Otenas to build the first green H2 OTEC plant that is globally competitive would attract plenty of foreign investments and help to create vast opportunities for employment in a whole new frontier of technology.