Worcester Business Journal

14 Worcester Business Journal | May 29, 2023 | wbjournal.com F O C U S E N E R G Y & S U S T A I N A B I L I T Y e Devens revolution PHOTO | COURTESY OF ELECTRIC HYDROGEN BY KEVIN KOCZWARA Special to WBJ D avid Eaglesham wanted to find the next answer. As an entrepreneur-in-res- idence at the Bill Gates-funded Break- through Energy Ventures in Washington, he was also looking for a problem to solve. Previously, Eaglesham was the chief technology officer at First Solar – an Arizona solar panel manufacturer and provider of utility-scale solar farms, and the supporting services, including fi- nancing, construction, maintenance, and panel recycling – until he retired aer six years at the company in 2012. Aer leav- ing First Solar, Eaglesham needed to find what to do next and to find his focus. With that, he came to the conclusion that hydrogen, the most prevalent molecule in the universe, was the next logical step in the fight against climate change. "Clean electricity alone doesn't solve the problem. It actually only solves about a third of the problem," Eaglasham said. "If you look at it, there's only about a third of climate change that's attribut- able to renewable electricity production. So if all you do is clean electricity, then you only solve one third of the climate problem. e other two thirds are these super hard problems – like big industry; it's shipping; it's airplanes; flight; and it's just a mess of problems that are super, super hard to solve – and hydrogen is a pathway to solve all of those." Hydrogen is an integral part of the economy, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. It is used in the production of ammonia, which is vital to manufacturing fertilizer. Hydro- gen is used for refining petroleum, metal alloying and iron flashmaking, atomic hydrogen welding, in glass production, in the creation of semiconductors, LEDs, displays, photovoltaic segments, and other electronics as well as in hydrogen peroxide. NASA makes liquid hydrogen fuel, which is rocket fuel. While this single element is vital to our lives and prevalent in the air and space, hydrogen is not easy to harness in the same way that water is. e main way – a thermochemical process – uses a large amount of energy from fossil fuels. Research is looking at developing While Mass. focuses on renewable electricity, a Natick firm is building a Devens facility to help clean up the use of the most abundant element in the universe: hydrogen alternative methods like water splitting or electrolytic, but even those use fossil fuels. at's where Eaglesham saw an op- portunity: an electrolyzer running off of renewable energy. "ere's an existing industry that's How New England generated electricity in 2022 Source: ISO New England Natural gas Nuclear Net imports from other electric grids Renewables Hydro Oil Coal 46% 23% 14% 11% 6% 1% 0.3% The founders of Electric Hydrogen (from left) David Eaglesham, Raffi Garabedian, Dorian West, and Derek Warnick

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