It was our pleasure to show up for the second year in a row at the Monaco Hydrogen Forum – the leading gathering spot for global innovators in the transformative potential of hydrogen fuel. Last year at the same conference, we won an award for “Most Disruptive Potential” – so the team and I knew going in that the stakes were high to prove our continued trajectory. We chose to introduce our two new platforms at the Forum, which resulted in a number of conversations about their use cases and how we’ll continue to evolve the potential of hydrogen for drone flight.
I also wanted to share a few of my takeaways from the conference, which gave me a broader view on hydrogen, its applications in aviation and beyond.
Advances in onsite hydrogen production
I’m very interested in how hydrogen can be cleanly and rapidly produced on a mission site, as it holds myriad implications for the use of our drones in military and civil aviation missions such as surveillance, logistics and humanitarian support. I was interested to see a new solution from the South African company Hydrox called divergent electrode flow through (DEFT) technology, which allows hydrogen-producing electrolyzers to operate without membranes at higher temperatures, resulting in significantly improved electrical efficiencies. In short, it produces hydrogen more efficiently, holding immense implications for fuel and power on the African continent as well as other critical applications.
New fuel cell innovations
Stuttgart-based H2Fly, which specializes in hydrogen fuel cell technologies for aviation, won this year’s innovation prize – and deservedly so. Hydrogen fuel cells have come a long way, but H2Fly demonstrated further innovation and improvement. They’ve shown that liquid hydrogen, stored cryogenically, can help manned small aircraft fly further than conventional fuel – an enormous step forward in proof points for hydrogen fuel and its potential as not only a green fuel source, but a more productive one as well.
Hydrogen storage and transport evolves
HSL Technologies, a French company developing an innovation for transporting and storing hydrogen, was awarded the prize for the solution with the most disruptive potential. Their solution charges and releases hydrogen in a unique liquid carrier called HydroSil, potentially allowing safe and practical hydrogen storage and transportation across a number of use cases.
It’s an exciting time to be part of the hydrogen ecosystem because these solutions are constantly evolving and transforming. For us to succeed, we need partners across the ecosystem who are maximizing the potential of hydrogen production, transportation and fuel efficiency. It was a valuable week for us to collaborate with these innovators on the ground, and I personally have never been more optimistic about the full potential of hydrogen power.
Bentzion
