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Released October 10, 2022 | SUGAR LAND
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Written by John Egan for Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--Hydrogen's role in decarbonizing the electric-power industry was a much-discussed topic at a Denver conference last week. Speakers on several panels agreed it was a great idea with lots of potential, but eventually the discussion got around to the many challenges, including its high cost, lack of a transportation infrastructure, and the scant availability of electrolyzers, an essential part of separating water into its constituent elements of hydrogen and oxygen.
"It's a hard case to make, given all the uncertainties today," said Thomas Bradley, a systems-engineering professor at Colorado State University (Fort Collins, Colorado). "Hydrogen is in an early stage of maturity right now. Making it pencil out will be a major challenge."
Bradley spoke at the HYDROGENEXT conference, which was co-located with the Experience POWER conference. The conferences took place October 3-6. Both events were sponsored by Access Intelligence LLC (Rockville, Maryland).
Another conference speaker, Robert Chapman, senior vice president for energy delivery and customer solutions at the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) (Palo Alto, California), said, "You can't get to net-zero without hydrogen. Hydrogen will play a critical role in decarbonizing the economy." He referenced the "Hydrogen Shot" initiative launched by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE). Taking an economy-wide perspective, the energy agency projected a hydrogen economy could create 30 million jobs by 2050 and add $2.5 trillion in gross domestic product (GDP).
This past June, the DOE issued a funding opportunity notice for $8 billion in grants under the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act to create a nationwide network of regional hydrogen hubs. President Joe Biden signed that bill into law in late 2021. In its funding announcement, DOE said, "The production, processing, delivery, storage and end-use of clean hydrogen, including innovative uses in the industrial sector, is crucial to DOE's strategy for achieving President Biden's goal of a 100% clean electrical grid by 2035 and net-zero carbon emissions by 2050."
Industrial Info is tracking about 195 hydrogen projects across North America that are scheduled to begin construction between January 2022 and December 2026. The collective value of these projects is about $48.7 billion. The projects are scheduled to be deployed across several industries--mainly Chemical Processing, but also Electric Power, Alternative Fuels, Oil & Gas Production and others.
Click on the image at right to see scheduled spending on hydrogen projects across North America through 2026, by industry.
The level of project activity does not appreciably decline when Industrial Info assesses each project's probability of starting construction according to its current schedule. Industrial Info rates 186 of those projects, with total investment value of $44.3 billion, as having a "medium" (70% to 80%) or "high" (81% to 99%) probability of beginning construction, according to their established schedules.
At last week's conferences, speakers said a blend of 20% hydrogen and 80% natural gas could be carried through existing gas pipelines and burned in gas-fired power plants. But if hydrogen gets about 20% of the mix, equipment corrosion starts to be a problem. There are several demonstration projects underway to see what modifications would be needed for power plants to burn greater levels of hydrogen as a fuel.
At a separate session, representatives from a wide range of organizations--including the nuclear power industry, equipment maker Mitsubishi, engineering firm Sargent & Lundy (Chicago, Illinois), Caterpillar Incorporated (NYSE:CAT) (Deerfield, Illinois), and utilities Southern California Gas (Los Angeles, California), a unit of Sempra Energy (NYSE:SRE) (San Diego, California), and Southern Company (NYSR:SO) (Atlanta, Georgia)--all said some variant of "hydrogen has a bright future." But the speakers also acknowledged the challenges of realizing that future.
"Members of the Nuclear Energy Institute (NEI) (Washington, D.C.), have been bullish on hydrogen for several years," said Benton Arnett, NEI's director of markets and policy.
Representatives of Caterpillar told different sessions of the co-located conference about the company's upbeat views on hydrogen. Scott Conway, a gas electric power territory sales manager, said, "We see the power market changing, and we're working with customers to future-proof their equipment by informing them of what their equipment can and can't do." Caterpillar is using hydrogen in a combined heat and power project in Minnesota.
Conway's colleague Thomas Smith, power solutions director of energy development at Caterpillar Electric Power, said in a keynote address October 3 that its gas-fired generators can burn hydrogen as well as renewable natural gas and biogas. Generators produced by Caterpillar can burn up to 25% hydrogen, and the company is working to get that level to 100%.
"We're in the hydrogen business, the distributed energy business, the solar business, the battery energy-storage business," Smith said. "That might surprise those of you who know Caterpillar as a maker of heavy construction equipment, engines and backup generators."
"Hydrogen has been a really important business for our company," added Patrick Daou, a principal consultant and project manager at Sargent & Lundy. "Chemical processors and cement makers need heat for their processes, and hydrogen can be burned to meet their heat needs."
Hari Gopalakrishnan, a lead consultant for market intelligence & strategy at Mitsubishi Power Americas (Lake Mary, Florida), said his firm is helping the power industry decarbonize, and hydrogen is a big part of that: "We see electrification being a first step, then using hydrogen for hard-to-decarbonize industries." For the power industry, "green" hydrogen can be a way to generate electricity and reduce curtailments of intermittent generating resources like wind and solar, he said.
He added: "But there is a supply-chain challenge facing hydrogen--the lack of electrolyzers. That's something no one talks about."
Another speaker pointed out the high cost of electroylzers: On a per-kilowatt of installed capacity basis, they can cost as much as a power plant.
Industrial Info Resources (IIR) is the leading provider of industrial market intelligence. Since 1983, IIR has provided comprehensive research, news and analysis on the industrial process, manufacturing and energy related industries. IIR's Global Market Intelligence (GMI) platform helps companies identify and pursue trends across multiple markets with access to real, qualified and validated plant and project opportunities. Across the world, IIR is tracking more than 200,000 current and future projects worth $17.8 trillion (USD).
"It's a hard case to make, given all the uncertainties today," said Thomas Bradley, a systems-engineering professor at Colorado State University (Fort Collins, Colorado). "Hydrogen is in an early stage of maturity right now. Making it pencil out will be a major challenge."
Bradley spoke at the HYDROGENEXT conference, which was co-located with the Experience POWER conference. The conferences took place October 3-6. Both events were sponsored by Access Intelligence LLC (Rockville, Maryland).
Another conference speaker, Robert Chapman, senior vice president for energy delivery and customer solutions at the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) (Palo Alto, California), said, "You can't get to net-zero without hydrogen. Hydrogen will play a critical role in decarbonizing the economy." He referenced the "Hydrogen Shot" initiative launched by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE). Taking an economy-wide perspective, the energy agency projected a hydrogen economy could create 30 million jobs by 2050 and add $2.5 trillion in gross domestic product (GDP).
This past June, the DOE issued a funding opportunity notice for $8 billion in grants under the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act to create a nationwide network of regional hydrogen hubs. President Joe Biden signed that bill into law in late 2021. In its funding announcement, DOE said, "The production, processing, delivery, storage and end-use of clean hydrogen, including innovative uses in the industrial sector, is crucial to DOE's strategy for achieving President Biden's goal of a 100% clean electrical grid by 2035 and net-zero carbon emissions by 2050."
Industrial Info is tracking about 195 hydrogen projects across North America that are scheduled to begin construction between January 2022 and December 2026. The collective value of these projects is about $48.7 billion. The projects are scheduled to be deployed across several industries--mainly Chemical Processing, but also Electric Power, Alternative Fuels, Oil & Gas Production and others.
Click on the image at right to see scheduled spending on hydrogen projects across North America through 2026, by industry.The level of project activity does not appreciably decline when Industrial Info assesses each project's probability of starting construction according to its current schedule. Industrial Info rates 186 of those projects, with total investment value of $44.3 billion, as having a "medium" (70% to 80%) or "high" (81% to 99%) probability of beginning construction, according to their established schedules.
At last week's conferences, speakers said a blend of 20% hydrogen and 80% natural gas could be carried through existing gas pipelines and burned in gas-fired power plants. But if hydrogen gets about 20% of the mix, equipment corrosion starts to be a problem. There are several demonstration projects underway to see what modifications would be needed for power plants to burn greater levels of hydrogen as a fuel.
At a separate session, representatives from a wide range of organizations--including the nuclear power industry, equipment maker Mitsubishi, engineering firm Sargent & Lundy (Chicago, Illinois), Caterpillar Incorporated (NYSE:CAT) (Deerfield, Illinois), and utilities Southern California Gas (Los Angeles, California), a unit of Sempra Energy (NYSE:SRE) (San Diego, California), and Southern Company (NYSR:SO) (Atlanta, Georgia)--all said some variant of "hydrogen has a bright future." But the speakers also acknowledged the challenges of realizing that future.
"Members of the Nuclear Energy Institute (NEI) (Washington, D.C.), have been bullish on hydrogen for several years," said Benton Arnett, NEI's director of markets and policy.
Representatives of Caterpillar told different sessions of the co-located conference about the company's upbeat views on hydrogen. Scott Conway, a gas electric power territory sales manager, said, "We see the power market changing, and we're working with customers to future-proof their equipment by informing them of what their equipment can and can't do." Caterpillar is using hydrogen in a combined heat and power project in Minnesota.
Conway's colleague Thomas Smith, power solutions director of energy development at Caterpillar Electric Power, said in a keynote address October 3 that its gas-fired generators can burn hydrogen as well as renewable natural gas and biogas. Generators produced by Caterpillar can burn up to 25% hydrogen, and the company is working to get that level to 100%.
"We're in the hydrogen business, the distributed energy business, the solar business, the battery energy-storage business," Smith said. "That might surprise those of you who know Caterpillar as a maker of heavy construction equipment, engines and backup generators."
"Hydrogen has been a really important business for our company," added Patrick Daou, a principal consultant and project manager at Sargent & Lundy. "Chemical processors and cement makers need heat for their processes, and hydrogen can be burned to meet their heat needs."
Hari Gopalakrishnan, a lead consultant for market intelligence & strategy at Mitsubishi Power Americas (Lake Mary, Florida), said his firm is helping the power industry decarbonize, and hydrogen is a big part of that: "We see electrification being a first step, then using hydrogen for hard-to-decarbonize industries." For the power industry, "green" hydrogen can be a way to generate electricity and reduce curtailments of intermittent generating resources like wind and solar, he said.
He added: "But there is a supply-chain challenge facing hydrogen--the lack of electrolyzers. That's something no one talks about."
Another speaker pointed out the high cost of electroylzers: On a per-kilowatt of installed capacity basis, they can cost as much as a power plant.
Industrial Info Resources (IIR) is the leading provider of industrial market intelligence. Since 1983, IIR has provided comprehensive research, news and analysis on the industrial process, manufacturing and energy related industries. IIR's Global Market Intelligence (GMI) platform helps companies identify and pursue trends across multiple markets with access to real, qualified and validated plant and project opportunities. Across the world, IIR is tracking more than 200,000 current and future projects worth $17.8 trillion (USD).
