Great Expectations: Asia, Australia and Europe Leading Emerging Green Hydrogen Economy, but Project Delays Likely

In July 2020, the European Union unveiled its new Hydrogen Strategy, a visionary plan to accelerate the adoption of green hydrogen to meet the EU’s net-zero emissions goal by 2050. Combined with smaller-scale plans in South Korea and Japan, IEEFA believes this could form the beginnings of a global green hydrogen economy.
Green hydrogen, produced exclusively with renewable energy, has been acclaimed for decades, but ever lower solar electricity costs mean this time really is different.
We expect the EU’s initiative to find strong support as the proposed investment of €430bn by 2030 places it in pole position to develop a world-class green energy manufacturing industry and provides a vital bridge for energy transition by repurposing existing ‘natural’ gas pipelines and fossil-fuel dependent ports.
In the past year, numerous green hydrogen projects have been proposed, primarily in Asia, Europe, Australia.
We estimate there are 50 viable projects globally announced in the past year with a total hydrogen production capacity of 4 million tons per annum and renewable power capacity of 50 gigawatts (GW), requiring capex of US$75bn.
The paper can be download on the IEEFA website