200 countries were invited to COP26 in Glasgow. They announced the death of fossil fuels and launched the hydrogen v electrons war
It was great to be able to attend the CBI Dinner at COP26 courtesy of the pxGroup and hear from a range of speakers including John Kerry and Secretary of State Kwasi Kwarteng.
Two things are clear from the two week conference – it’s the beginning of the end of fossil fuels and we are going to need an awful lot more NdPr magnet metal production than is currently planned.
The end of fossil fuels is bringing about the battle for the fuel of the future – with the oil and gas giants and some of the big miners backing hydrogen on one side and the automotive sector led by Tesla betting on electricity on the other.
Iron ore magnate Twiggy Forrest insists “Green is Good” and that none of the other forms of hydrogen whether blue, black or grey are acceptable.
Which is where it gets really interesting because according to the Energy Council we are going to need over 650GW of offshore wind (ie ten times the installed electricity generating capacity of the UK) to produce enough Green Hydrogen just to replace what we are currently using for industrial purposes.
Let alone for it to be used as the fuel of the future.
An offshore wind turbine uses around seven tonnes of permanent magnets containing around three tonnes of NdPr oxide.
For 650GW that works out to be over 37 times Saltend’s annual production..
Pensana plc (LON:PRE) explores and mines neodymium, praseodymium, and rare earth minerals. The company is looking to establish the world’s first fully sustainable magnet metal rare earth oxide producer at the Saltend Chemicals Park in the Humber Local Enterprise Partnership Yorkshire, UK.