It is worth noting that when green hydrogen gets its legs, it will go on to become the new oil, which is going to be the energy source that throttles the global economy. As such, countries happen to be now preparing as well as forming international coalitions in order to position themselves for that future.
The advent of hitting net zero by 2050 is indeed going ahead and generating interest in clean hydrogen, which also happens to have the potential to go ahead and decarbonize hard-to-abate sectors that range from steel to chemicals to shipping. While technology as well as clean energy prices keep falling, they have to decline more so as to complete this energy transformation.
According to the chief executive, Fredrik Mowill from Hystar, the need to go ahead and reduce emissions while at the same time also providing clean energy will then go on to need new investments in the technology and production of green hydrogen.
If one is in search of clean energy, then green hydrogen is indeed an integral part of that transition. The money flowing is going to create new jobs, technologies, and markets, thereby massively impacting the complete value chain. They will also spend less money on traditional carbon-based fuels.
It is well to be noted that the green hydrogen market will expand from almost $1 billion today to $30 billion by 2030, as per MarketsandMarkets. Low renewable energy prices, along with advancements in electrolysis, will push growth, but a lack of transportation and storage infrastructure is indeed a barrier. That is why countries and companies are collaborating to go ahead and build economies of scale.
It goes without saying that hydrogen’s advantages are that it is abundant, renewable, and non-polluting; however, it is quite expensive to make, transport, and store.
Today, coal and natural gas reactions produce approximately the entire hydrogen, which is referred to as grey hydrogen. However, they do nothing to go ahead and limit CO2 emissions. The idea is to create hydrogen from low-carbon sources, or even green hydrogen.
For instance, the United Arab Emirates aims for a 25% global market share when it comes to low-carbon hydrogen by 2030. It happens to be joining forces with Germany in order to expand its portfolio. Moreover, Japan went ahead and announced a $100 million investment so as to convert fossil-fired plants into ammonia as well as hydrogen-based plants. South Korea, on the other hand, has set aside $40 billion in order to expand its hydrogen infrastructure by 2040, right from production tools to fuel cells to even filling stations. Due to this energy transition as well as increased investment in green hydrogen, they are indeed seeing international consortiums in the United States, Australia, and the Middle East, opines Mowill. The challenge here is to scale up and also meet the demand.
Scale is the objective
Consider the fact that solar panels may go on to create excess power- energy stored in a battery and then used in an electrolyzer in order to make pure hydrogen and also produce electricity. The electrolyzer goes on to create an electric current in order to split the hydrogen as well as oxygen from water.
To that end, Equinor, which happens to be a Norwegian energy conglomerate, is working with Hystar so as to test electrolyzers that are associated with offshore wind power. Plug PowerPLUG -0.3%, as well as Fortescue Future Industries, happen to be partnering to build a gigafactory across Queensland, Australia, in order to produce those devices. European and Asian companies are rolling out Enapter’s electrolyzer. Hydrogen Insights 2023 goes on to remark that manufacturers had $8 billion of electrolyzers in the queue until October 2023.
Cost is indeed an obstacle. Scale is the objective. Steel as well as shipping happen to be among the most intricate sectors in which to decarbonize. Enter green ammonia, which is an interim step for industrial users and a fuel that wind and solar power can go on to produce and also that traditional engines or fuel cells can make use of. Traditionally, industries go on to burn gas in order to boil water so as to make steam or coal in order to heat a boiler, which makes use of a lot of fuel and goes on to create too many emissions.
It is well to be noted that DNV GL goes on to predict widespread adoption when it comes to ammonia fuel, which will begin in 2037 and is most likely expected to make up 25% of the maritime fuel mix by 2050; shipping happens to have 13% of all transportation-related CO2 releases. Samsung Heavy Industries, Lloyd’s Register, and MAN Energy Solutions happen to be developing an ammonia-fuel ship.
The fact is that steel is also kind of hard to decarbonize. It is a $1 trillion industry that contributes around 7% of the total global greenhouse gas emissions. Uniper from Germany focuses on creating hydrogen from green sources, whereas Salzgitter happens to be a vast steel maker that wants to create steel by way of using green hydrogen. In this scenario, Uniper is indeed developing green hydrogen projects in order to convert green ammonia back to hydrogen.
DNV GL goes on to remark that green hydrogen from electrolysis is going to be the main long-term solution when it comes to decarbonizing hard-to-abate sectors.
In case green hydrogen goes on to hit its potential, the manufacturers could very well go ahead and reduce their production costs as well as emissions, which is, by the way, going to be a win-win in a competitive worldwide economy. That is the force behind numerous international partnerships and why green hydrogen may most likely become the century’s energy king.
