It is worth noting that hydrogen energy happens to be often touted as a probable and potential green alternative to fossil fuels such as oil, coal, and also gas, as it goes on to produce water vapor and heat rather than greenhouse gases.
There happen to be nations across the world that are investing pretty heavily in it. China, for instance, looks forward to having 50,000 hydrogen-powered vehicles operational by 2025, while on the other hand, the EU is looking to produce 10 million tonnes of renewable hydrogen by the end of this decade.
However, with billions that happen to be spent on hydrogen technologies, what do we understand by hydrogen energy, and the crux of the matter is that is it actually a green option that the world needs to decarbonize through?
Hydrogen in all its might happens to be considered a clean energy source since when it gets burnt as a fuel, it just goes on to produce heat and water rather than those planet-heating greenhouse gas emissions that come out from fossil fuels like oil and gas.
Hydrogen is already getting used across many sectors, with over half of it produced across the world used for the ammonia production, found across plastics and fertilizers. The fact of the matter is that 25% is utilized for refining oil, and almost 10% is used for the production of methanol.
Hydrogen – A renewable energy source?
Because of the fact that hydrogen energy does not happen to exist on its own, it has to be extracted from other chemicals. The way the extraction happens to be carried out puts forth the fact that it is actually renewable.
The fact is that the cleanest form of hydrogen is green hydrogen, which is made using renewable electricity such as solar and also wind power. Hydrogen happens to split from water by way of making use of electrolysis with no harmful byproducts coming out.
But in spite of the green potential that it has, almost all of the hydrogen, i.e., 98% of it, is produced via fossil fuels. Carbon dioxide, which is also referred to as grey hydrogen, gets released into the atmosphere in the process of production, thereby making it one of the most damaging forms of fuel.
Blue hydrogen, on the other hand, goes on to include carbon capture so as to cut off these emissions; however, it makes up only around 1% of the production.
How much is the current hydrogen production green?
It is well to be noted that green hydrogen comprises less than 1% of the overall global hydrogen output as per IRENA, which is the International Renewable Energy Agency.
Throughout the EU, for instance, 96% of all the hydrogen that was used in 2022 was made out of natural gas. As per the experts, it is partly due to green hydrogen energy production happening to be much more expensive. These costs, as a matter of fact, get passed to the customers. The cost is somewhere between $4 and $6 per kg, which is 2-3 times more as compared to grey hydrogen, as per IRENA.
Where is it utilized?
Green hydrogen is almost limited to transport, and that too, majorly when it comes to road vehicles. There happen to be over 72,000 hydrogen fuel cell vehicles that are plying on the roads lately, mostly across China, Japan, South Korea, the US, and Germany. But the dearth of infrastructure makes hydrogen fuel less preferable as compared to traditional fuel. For example, when we talk of the US, which is one of the highest hydrogen producers, it has just 59 hydrogen refueling stations for vehicles that are mostly located in California state.
China, on the other hand, has 354 functional hydrogen refueling stations, which, by the way, is the highest in the world. It also happens to be home to over 95% of all fuel cell electric trucks as well as 85% of hydrogen-powered buses.
Interestingly, in 2022, Germany happened to roll out the first-in-the-world hydrogen-powered passenger train. It can go on to travel almost 1000 km on a single hydrogen-filled tank. Apart from this, even the aviation sector is slowly but surely catching up and also developing novel ways to use hydrogen for much longer flights. Germany in 2023 saw the first piloted flight that was powered by liquid hydrogen.
So, which are the countries that happen to be promoting green hydrogen projects?
The fact is that the overall global race is indeed heating up so as to install hydrogen infrastructure. As per Global Market Insights, the global hydrogen sector was valued at $183 billion in 2022. As per the World Bank, by 2050, the hydrogen demand is anticipated to surge anywhere between 500 million and 680 million tonnes. In spite of China being the largest producer as well as user of hydrogen, just 1.5% of its overall production happens to be renewable. As per the Center of International and Strategic Studies, which is a US think tank, coal-based hydrogen production, when it comes to China, costs almost half the price of renewable hydrogen.
China, as a matter of fact, also went on to release its first-ever long-term plan for hydrogen. The government went on to pinpoint hydrogen as a major focus area and looks forward to producing somewhere between 100,000 and 250,000 tonnes of hydrogen that’s renewable-based every year by 2025.
China goes on to estimate that these kinds of targets could very well go on to decrease its emissions by almost 1 to 2 million tonnes per year. In the US, the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act – 2021 has also gone on to authorize $9.5 billion when it comes to clean hydrogen projects, job creation, and also incentives. The law looks forward to lessening the production cost pertaining to clean hydrogen, thereby helping make it much cheaper for the end users.