Episode description

Large swaths of the global economy are very hard to decarbonize with renewables and batteries alone. Steel, cement, aviation – these industries are run on the high heat and explosive force of burning fossil fuels. 

Together, these activities make up the industrial basement of society; the often overlooked and essential sectors of the economy that can only be made possible, in part, by burning liquid and gaseous hydrocarbons.

Cleaning up these sectors requires an energy-dense alternative that can go the distance.

And that's exactly what today's guest, Electric Hydrogen CEO and co-founder Raffi Garabedian, is building.

Raffi and the team at Electric Hydrogen are building the electrolyzers and supporting infrastructure that can produce the clean, green hydrogen needed to fuel our net-zero future.

Hydrogen has the potential to replace the role of petrochemicals altogether. Burning hydrogen could generate the high temperatures that heavy industry requires – without any added carbon emissions. And it could also be used for synthetic fuels in aviation or shipping. But in order to do so, hydrogen production has to clean up its act.

And that's what Raffi and Electric Hydrogen are doing by building massive electrolyzers – tractor trailer-sized machines that run electricity through water, splitting it into its basic elements: oxygen and hydrogen.

Commercial electrolyzers today are typically 5-10 megawatts. But Electric Hydrogen is aiming for 100 megawatts to drive down costs. By building larger and more efficient electrolyzers with much higher energy inputs, the company aims to produce greater amounts of hydrogen at a price that would make it competitive with natural gas.

Emily spoke to Raffi about what it takes to move fast and break bonds in their journey to get green hydrogen down to fossil fuel price parity. They also talked about the balance between being a technologist and entrepreneur, and the infrastructure and innovation we'll need for widespread green hydrogen use in tough to decarbonize industries.

Powerhouse is an innovation firm that works with leading global corporations to help them find, partner with, invest in, and acquire the most innovative startups in clean energy, mobility, and climate. Powerhouse Ventures backs seed-stage startups building innovative software to rapidly decarbonize our global energy and mobility systems. You can learn more at powerhouse.fund, and you can subscribe to our newsletter at https://www.powerhouse.fund/subscribe.

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