Renewable energy is the future. While oil & gas continues to be an important cog in the global economy, governments around the world are beginning to place a larger emphasis on developing next-generation fueling and renewable energy solutions. While electric vehicles, solar panel and wind turbines may come to mind initially, some startups are testing other elements, such as hydrogen, for use as an alternative clean fuel.
Aurora Hydrogen is engaged as an energy startup that seeks to develop clean hydrogen technology for use as fuel. The company aims to develop the technology using efficient microwave technology without the need for generating CO2 emissions or even using water. Founded in 2021, Aurora Hydrogen says its technology is able to be scaled from small fueling stations to large industrial applications. Management has previously estimated that its hydrogen technology could reduce global carbon emissions by over 900 million tons per year.
The startup just announced it has completed a Series A funding round, which raised $10 million to help continue its mission to develop clean hydrogen energy. Energy Innovation Capital led the Series A with participation from Williams, Shell Ventures, Chevron Technology Ventures and the George Kaiser Family Foundation. Gross proceeds from the funding will be used to build and operate a 200 kg-H2/day demonstration plant, which will be used for field trials in Edmonton, Canada.
Although hydrogen fueling technology has been around for a while, Aurora Hydrogen is taking a different approach that it believes will generate less emissions and provide better energy efficiency. Currently, hydrogen production tends to be fairly expensive, especially when considering the transportation costs.
Aurora’s technology aims to provide hydrogen fuel at the point-of-use, which would elminiate the need for expensive investment in transportation infrastructure. Furthermore, the startup’s technology uses 80% less electricity than electrolysis, which is the current method for producing clean hydrogen.
“At Aurora, we are producing low-cost hydrogen at the point of use, at the exact scale required, and without generating any CO2,” said Andrew Gillis, CEO, Aurora Hydrogen. “We use existing energy pipelines and distribution systems to move the energy, then produce hydrogen where it’s needed, eliminating the need for any new costly hydrogen transportation infrastructure.”
