IEA: More, Faster Action Needed to Nurture Low-Carbon Hydrogen

September 22, 2023--Written by John Egan for Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--The hydrogen industry continues to struggle with the familiar chicken-and-egg challenges of many emerging industries: Will future demand be enough to convince manufacturers to commit to making new supply, and will there be enough future supply to meet projected demand?

It's a challenge explored in depth in a new report from the International Energy Agency (IEA) (Paris, France), Global Hydrogen Review 2023, which was released today. Overhanging all the numerous supply-and-demand questions is the nascent state of the electrolyzer supply chain. Electrolyzers are expensive pieces of equipment that split water into its constituent elements, hydrogen and oxygen. Hydrogen produced using renewable energy is termed "green" hydrogen, while hydrogen produced with electricity generated from fossil fuel with carbon capture, utilization and storage (CCUS) is called "blue" hydrogen.