Raven SR is deepening its relationship with the New Energy Coalition and other European parties within an ongoing knowledge-sharing dialogue on renewable H₂ technologies and market developments. Raven SR recently hosted members of the Netherlands-based New Energy Coalition and provincial officials from the Northern Netherlands at the company’s Richmond Field Station to tour its H₂ pilot reformer at University of California-Berkeley.

The Dutch delegation, which visited Raven SR’s engineering plant and Benicia fabrication facility in California, learned more about the company’s non-combustion waste-to-H₂ technology and its European expansion plans.

“The international exchange of ideas lays the groundwork for bringing renewable H₂ projects online in Europe and other markets around the world, including the U.S.,” said Raven SR CEO Matt Murdock. “We are actively engaged in discussions around developing Europe’s H₂ valleys to include waste-to-H₂ production facilities.”

Raven SR is actively pursuing projects in Europe’s H₂ valleys, some of which are public-private sector projects for building integrated H₂ hubs. The company last year opened its wholly owned Raven SR Iberia subsidiary in Zaragoza, Spain and announced a waste-to-H₂ project in Aragón, Spain.

The New Energy Coalition leads Hy2Market, a multi-regional initiative aimed at boosting H₂ production on an accelerated timeframe. Hy2Market last year won a €10-MM grant from the European Commission, which included €2.4 MM toward Raven SR’s Aragón project. The company plans to bring that project online in 2024. The Aragón facility will produce 1,600 metric tpy of renewable H₂ from approximately 75 tpd of organic solid waste.

The Northern Netherlands is home to the HEAVENN project, which brings together H₂ production, storage, refueling and end-uses, including in industry, transportation and heating. The HEAVENN project—integrated among private-sector companies and governments—is the first H₂ valley in Europe. HEAVENN received the H₂ Valley of the Year Award at the EU H₂ Week in Brussels last October. The €90+ MM project has received €20 MM in funding from the EU’s Clean H₂ Partnership and a €10-MM contribution from the Netherlands provinces of Drenthe and Groningen. The EU recently outlined its Green Deal Industrial Plan with the intention of providing faster access to government funding for net-zero industrial projects.

“The Raven SR technology offers a new route to produce green H₂,” said Patrick Cnubben, director of strategy-H₂, New Energy Coaltion. “This technology is very promising in opening up a new range of resources from waste streams to generate renewable H₂. The upward potential is huge.

The Clean H₂ Partnership and the S3 European H₂ Valleys Platform are jointly organizing a late February workshop on how to expedite implementation of H₂ valleys. The outcomes of the workshop will help the European Commission and the Clean H₂ Partnership in deciding how best to use the €200-MM Horizon Europe funding allocated to the goal of doubling the number of H₂ valleys by 2025. New Energy Coalition and Raven SR will participate in the workshop.

The European Green Deal aims for at least a 55% greenhouse gas emissions reduction by 2030 and a climate-neutral economy by 2050. The H₂ valleys can accelerate the contribution of clean H₂ in reaching these targets.

The Raven SR technology is a non-combustion thermal, chemical reductive process that converts organic waste and landfill gas to H₂ and Fischer-Tropsch synthetic fuels. Unlike other H₂ production technologies, its Steam/CO₂ Reformation does not require fresh water as a feedstock. The process is more efficient than conventional H₂ production and can deliver fuel with low to negative carbon intensity. Additionally, Raven SR’s goal is to generate as much of its own power onsite as possible to reduce reliance on the power grid and be independent of the grid. Its modular design provides a scalable means to locally produce renewable H₂ and synthetic liquid fuels from local waste.