IEA: Future is Bright for Clean Hydrogen Projects

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Written by Martin Lynch, European News Editor for Industrial Info (Galway, Ireland)--The future for clean hydrogen energy projects is bright, but the International Energy Agency (IEA) has outlined steps to help cut costs, build infrastructure and spur trade across a wide range of sectors.

The IEA's report, The Future of Hydrogen: Seizing Today's Opportunities, concluded that clean hydrogen is getting strong support from governments and businesses around the world with a sharp rise in the number of projects and policies underway. It maintained that there is a large opportunity to tap into hydrogen's "vast potential to become a critical part of a more sustainable and secure energy future." Industrial Info is tracking a number of groundbreaking projects aiming to use hydrogen as a fuel in the steel-making and refining sectors.

The IEA stated that hydrogen can help tackle various critical energy challenges, including helping to store the variable output from renewables like solar PV and wind to better match demand as well as helping industries, including long-haul transport, chemicals, and iron and steel, to reduce emissions. However, it notes that producing hydrogen from low-carbon energy is still costly, the development of hydrogen infrastructure is slow and holding back widespread adoption. There are also regulations that currently limit the development of a clean hydrogen industry in certain countries.

"Hydrogen is today enjoying unprecedented momentum, driven by governments that both import and export energy, as well as the renewables industry, electricity and gas utilities, automakers, oil and gas companies, major technology firms and big cities," commented Dr. Fatih Birol, the IEA's executive director. "The world should not miss this unique chance to make hydrogen an important part of our clean and secure energy future."

The IEA outlines seven key recommendations to help governments, companies and other stakeholders to scale up hydrogen projects:

• Making industrial ports the nerve centres for scaling up the use of clean hydrogen;
• Building on existing infrastructure, such as natural gas pipelines;
• Expanding the use of hydrogen in transport by using it to power cars, trucks and buses that run on key routes;
• Launching the hydrogen trade's first international shipping routes

Hydrogen already is being used on an industrial scale, but it is almost entirely supplied from natural gas and coal. Its production, mainly for the chemicals and refining industries, is responsible for 830 million tonnes of CO2 emissions per year the IEA noted--equivalent to the annual carbon emissions of the U.K. and Indonesia combined. In the past two decades, more than 200 projects have started operation to convert electricity and water into hydrogen to reduce emissions -- from transport, natural gas use and industrial sectors -- or to support the integration of renewables into the energy system. There are currently about 11,200 hydrogen-powered cars on the road worldwide, but government targets call for that number to increase dramatically to 2.5 million by 2030.

Industrial Info is tracking a growing number of green hydrogen projects in Europe, including BP's (NYSE:BP) plan to create Europe's largest renewable-energy-based hydrogen production facility at a refinery in Rotterdam, Netherlands. It is working with Nouryon (formerly AkzoNobel Specialty Chemicals) and the Port of Rotterdam to study the feasibility for 250-megawatt water electrolysis facility that could produce up to 45,000 tons of green hydrogen a year. The refinery currently uses hydrogen made from hydrocarbons to desulphurize products--replacing it completely with green hydrogen produced from water using renewable energy--could reduce emissions by 350,000 tons of CO2 per year.

Industrial Info Resources (IIR), with global headquarters in Sugar Land, Texas, six offices in North America and 12 international offices, is the leading provider of global market intelligence specializing in the industrial process, heavy manufacturing and energy markets. Our European headquarters are located in Galway, Ireland. Follow IIR Europe on: Facebook - Twitter - LinkedIn For more information on our European coverage send inquiries to info@industrialinfo.eu or visit us online at Industrial Info Europe.