TELF AG Tracks Global Developments in Natural Hydrogen Research
The new frontiers of energy
In the era of ecological transition, the interests of companies and major players in the energy sector turn almost automatically to those energy sources capable of fueling this necessary global conversion, especially from the point of view of adopting renewable energy. Counting on massive reserves of these sources or a good dose of control over the supply chain can undoubtedly confer a major competitive and strategic advantage.
For some time now, in addition to the usual attention paid to strategic minerals and other raw materials involved in the global game for sustainability, the eyes of stakeholders and energy companies have increasingly turned towards hydrogen, a resource that is still relatively little used to achieve climate neutrality objectives. Also, thanks to some recent discoveries, a form of hydrogen attracting a surprising amount of interest is certainly natural hydrogen, i.e., that which is found in nature in the free state, which existence was not even suspected until a few years ago. This is geological hydrogen, also known as white hydrogen, and in a few years, it could become one of the most interesting protagonists of the green future towards which we are heading at a rapid pace.
The mapping of the American territory
Among the first to understand the potential of this element – considered a source of renewable energy – is the United States Geological Survey, which in the coming months will publish the highly anticipated results of a mapping of the possible deposits of this resource in the US territory (and not only). These discoveries have already occurred in France, Mali, and Australia and are attracting significant investment. Some Australian explorers, such as Hyterra and Gold Hydrogen, have already gone public, receiving millions of dollars in investments. The startup Earth Source Hydrogen, led by the British Michael Howard, has also set its sights on this resource, while the African company Hydroma is currently managing the hydrogen field discovered in 2011 in Mali. From this point of view, one of the most active actors appears to be the United States, particularly after the approval of the Inflation Reduction Act 2022.
The US Department of Energy is, in fact, already working to identify potentially interesting areas for exploration, but it is certainly not the only one moving in this direction. The Koloma company – which received 91 million dollars in funding from BreakThrough Energy, a Bill Gates company – is completing its own map with the areas that could prove most profitable for the production of this kind of natural hydrogen, also using subsoil research models used in the oil sector. The interesting feature is that this research is already being carried out with artificial intelligence in order to find the rock layers that could contain the gas or block it underground. White hydrogen represents only one of the possible variants of this precious element. Another is green hydrogen, which is obtained through water electrolysis and is certainly the most sustainable and expensive.
