Is Hydrogen the solution to a clean and efficient supply chain? The U.S. Infrastructure Act is investing heavily in the development of hydrogen hubs, and truck manufacturers are following suit. Most major vehicle makers are fast at work producing trucks with hydrogen-powered fuel cells. While the goal of reaching green energy is essential, there are still some remaining hurdles to jump before hydrogen-powered trucks are ubiquitous. Producing, storing, and transporting liquid hydrogen in a safe manner is one of the issues that must be addressed, and companies are getting innovative to ensure that. In the meantime, they are also putting hydrogen to use in other ways across the supply chain.
Some of the early innovative adopters of this fuel include ship bunkering, currently underway in Norway. Here users are deploying liquefaction and storage solutions to support the bunkering. There are also data centers around the globe that will soon be powered by liquid H solutions, and some companies are considering hydrogen for back-up energy solutions. In Texas, a company is producing low-cost electricity for transporting hydrogen to customers. In the mining sector, the fuel is not yet dependable enough to ship around the world to mining locations. Instead, mines are converting their large trucks from diesel to liquid hydrogen. At some point in the not-so-distant future, truck stops will begin providing hydrogen fuel, as well. The possibilities are countless, and with new funding behind it, hydrogen will become a fixture in the supply chain before very long.
