Biological hydrogen is a wildcard technology that could change what Roy Allegra calls the current hydrogen cold war.
Allegra, based in London, is founder of RA Energy and Green H₂ Systems Modeling.
He sees Europe scrambling to lock in alliances and signing deals in the Middle East and Africa to secure green hydrogen supply. These countries are aiming to lead production.
Meanwhile, China is already leading in electrolyzer manufacturing capacity, and the US is attracting technology investment.
“This is no longer about who builds the biggest electrolyzer, it’s about who controls the future of energy trade,” says Allegra.
Biohydrogen could change the current dynamics.
Genetically engineered cyanobacteria, microorganisms that naturally split water using sunlight, have been developed that can produce hydrogen directly from sunlight, water and some nutrients, without the huge electricity input required by electrolysis.
Electrolytic hydrogen today often needs $0.01–/kWh power to be viable, which is difficult to sustain outside subsidy bubbles, says Allegra. A biological approach cuts out that electricity cost, so the energy return is far higher.
“Sunlight + water + engineered microbes = potential hydrogen at $1.7–$/kg (LCOE) without the massive electricity bill.”
Shipping is one of the most promising downstream applications, says Allegra. “Hydrogen itself is difficult to ship as a fuel, but biohydrogen can be converted to ammonia or methanol on site, both of which are already being considered for marine fuels.
“In practical terms, I see the future in modular deployments, photobioreactors alongside wastewater plants, ports, and industrial zones in high sun regions. From there, the hydrogen is converted on site into shipping ready fuels like ammonia or methanol.”
The challenge for biohydrogen is moving it from the lab to the field. Until now, the barriers: oxygen sensitivity, genetic instability, contamination, have kept it in research labs. But RA Energy has designed a system that overcomes those barriers in one architecture.
The adoption of biohydrogen could happen soon, he says. “It’s actually a shift we’re already preparing for. Biohydrogen will emerge first in places where sunlight is abundant, infrastructure is weak and clean fuel demand is urgent. That’s why our first pilots are focused on the Middle East and North Africa. Shipping is one of the earliest beneficiaries, because it needs scalable green fuels at costs that actually work.
“The real question is: which model wins? Subsidy driven (US), alliance driven (EU), land and sun driven (MENA), or manufacturing driven (China)?”
(Roy Allegra)
