Policy & Socio-Economics

Hydrogen when based on renewable electricity can play a key role in the transition towards CO2-neutral industrial production since its use as an energy carrier as well as a feedstock in various industrial process routes is promising. At the same time a large-scale roll-out of hydrogen for industrial use would entail substantial impacts on the energy system which can only be assessed if the regional distribution of future hydrogen demand is considered. Here we assess the technical potential of hydrogen-based technologies for energy-intensive industries in Germany. The site-specific and process-specific bottom-up calculation considers 615 individual plants at 367 sites and results in a total potential hydrogen demand of 326 TWh/a. The results are available as an open dataset. Using hydrogen for non-energy-intensive sectors as well increases the potential hydrogen demand to between 482 and 534 TWh/a for Germany - based on today’s industrial structure and production output. This assumes that fossil fuels are almost completely replaced by hydrogen for process heating and feedstocks. The resulting hydrogen demand is very unevenly distributed: a few sites account for the majority of the overall potential and similarly the bulk of demand is concentrated in a few regions with steel and chemical clusters.

During 2020 the Scottish Government in partnership with Highlands and Islands Enterprise and Scottish Enterprise commissioned Arup and E4Tech to carry out a hydrogen assessment to deepen our evidence base in order to inform our policies on hydrogen going forward. The assessment aims to investigate how and where hydrogen may fit within the evolving energy system technically geographically and economically. To assist in this consideration a key part of the Hydrogen Assessment is the development of distinct viable scenarios for hydrogen deployment in Scotland and the economic assessment of those scenarios.<br/>From our assessment it is clear that hydrogen is not just an energy and emissions reduction opportunity; it could also have an important role in generating new economic opportunities in Scotland. The assessment forms an important part of the evidence base that informed the development of the Hydrogen Policy Statement.

The Joint Research Centre (JRC) of the European Commission together with the European Association of Research and Technology Organisations (EARTO) the European Standards Organisations (ESO) CEN and CENELEC and the European Commission Directorate-General Enterprise and Industry (ENTR) have launched an initiative within the context of the European Forum on Science and Industry to bring the scientific and standardization communities closer together. The second and very successful workshop in a series entitled “Putting Science into Standards" was held in at the Institute for Energy and Transport of the JRC in Petten on 21-22 October 2014.<br/>The workshop focused on Power to Hydrogen (P2H) and Hydrogen Compressed Natural Gas (HCNG) which represent a promising and major contribution to the challenging management of increased integration of renewable energy sources in the overall energy system. The workshop offered a platform to exchange ideas on technologies policy and standardization issues. The participation of major stakeholders from both industry and research to this event proved fruitful in moving towards consensus on the relevant technical issues involved and at identifying a common way forward to increase the maturity and market visibility of P2H components and systems. Other outcomes include a clarification of expectations of industry of where and how policy and standardization can contribute to a competitive development of P2H and related issues. The workshop results will be used to devise a roadmap on "Opportunities for Power to Hydrogen and HCNG" by CEN/CENELEC outlining the next steps of standardization activities.

Green hydrogen has been known in the UK since Robert Boyle described flammable air in 1671. This paper describes how green hydrogen has become a new priority for the UK in 2021 beginning to replace fossil hydrogen production exceeding 1 Mte in 2021 when the British Government started to inject significant funding into green hydrogen sources though much less than the USA Germany Japan and China. Recent progress in the UK was initiated in 2008 when the first UK green hydrogen station opened in Birmingham University refuelling 5 hydrogen fuel cell battery electric vehicles (HFCBEVs) for the 50 PhD chemical engineering students that arrived in 2009. Only 10 kg/day were required in contrast to the first large green ITM power station delivering almost 600 kg/day of green hydrogen that opened in the UK in Tyseley in July 2021. The first question asked in this paper is: ‘What do you mean Green?’. Then the Clean Air Zone (CAZ) in Birmingham is described with the key innovations defined. Progress in UK green hydrogen and fuel cell introduction is then recounted. The remarks of Elon Musk about this ‘Fool Cell; Mind bogglingly stupid’ technology are analysed to show that he is incorrect. The immediate deployment of green hydrogen stations around the UK has been planned. Another century may be needed to make green hydrogen dominant across the country yet we will be on the correct path once a profitable supply chain is established in 2022.

Climate change is an existential threat to humanity. Without global action to limit greenhouse gas emissions the climate will change catastrophically with almost unimaginable consequences for societies across the world. In recognition of the risks to the UK and other countries the UK became in 2019 the first major economy to implement a legally binding net zero target.<br/>The UK has made significant progress in decarbonising its economy but needs to go much further to achieve net zero. This will be a collective effort requiring changes from households businesses and government. It will require substantial investment and significant changes to how people live their lives.<br/>This transformation will also create opportunities for the UK economy. New industries and jobs will emerge as existing sectors decarbonise or give way to lowcarbon equivalents. The Ten Point Plan for a Green Industrial Revolution and Energy White Paper start to set out how the UK can make the most of these opportunities with new investment in sectors like offshore wind and hydrogen.1 The transition will also have distributional and competitiveness impacts that the government will need to consider as it designs policy.<br/>This interim report sets out the analysis so far from the Treasury’s Net Zero Review and seeks feedback on the approach ahead of the final report due to be published next year.

It’s the first of its kind overview showing the state of play with regards to hydrogen technologies in Europe. On an annual basis there will be an update serving as a basis for your investment or political decisions.<br/><br/>OUR MISSION IS – NO EMISSION!<br/>From day 1 Hydrogen Europe promoted clean hydrogen and clean hydrogen technologies as enablers of a decarbonised energy system. We strongly support the adoption of very ambitious climate targets for 2030 and the objective of carbon neutrality in the EU by 2050. Clean hydrogen can help to realise this transition of our energy system in multiple sectors from energy production storage and distribution to end-uses in transport industry heating and others.<br/><br/>CLEAN HYDROGEN TECHNOLOGIES CAN AND WILL REPLACE<br/>not just fossil-based hydrogen in current (industrial) uses but also other fossil-based energies such as petrol diesel and hydrocarbon fuels in the transport sector coal /coke in the steel sector natural gas in the heating sector and other polluting and emitting fuels and feedstocks. <br/><br/>WE ARE TALKING ABOUT A SYSTEMIC CHANGE.<br/>The use of clean hydrogen needs adaptations in production schemes in the infrastructure and in the deployment of hydrogen by the end users. This cannot – of course –be done in a day. Yet we should not wait for the implementation of the different hydrogen strategies on private municipal regional national or European level until other geographies worldwide race ahead.<br/><br/>

The transition to low carbon energy and transport systems requires an unprecedented roll-out of new infrastructure technologies containing significant quantities of critical raw materials. Many of these technologies are based on general purpose technologies such as permanent magnets and electric motors that are common across different infrastructure systems. Circular economy initiatives that aim to institute better resource management practices could exploit these technological commonalities through the reuse and remanufacturing of technology components across infrastructure systems. In this paper we analyze the implementation of such processes in the transition to low carbon electricity generation and transport on the Isle of Wight UK. We model two scenarios relying on different renewable energy technologies with the reuse of Lithium-ion batteries from electric vehicles for grid-attached storage. A whole-system analysis that considers both electricity and transport infrastructure demonstrates that the optimal choice of renewable technology can be dependent on opportunities for component reuse and material recycling between the different infrastructure systems. Hydrogen fuel cell based transport makes use of platinum from obsolete catalytic converters whereas lithium-ion batteries can be reused for grid-attached storage when they are no longer useful in vehicles. Trade-offs exist between the efficiency of technology reuse which eliminates the need for new technologies for grid attached storage completely by 2033 and the higher flexibility afforded by recycling at the material level; reducing primary material demand for Lithium by 51% in 2033 compared to 30% achieved by battery reuse. This analysis demonstrates the value of a methodology that combines detailed representations of technologies and components with a systemic approach that includes multiple interconnected infrastructure systems.

Low-carbon hydrogen has the potential to play a significant role in tackling climate change and poor air quality. This policy briefing considers how hydrogen could be produced at a useful scale to power vehicles heat homes and supply industrial processes.

Four groups of hydrogen production technologies are examined:

Thermochemical Routes to Hydrogen

These methods typically use heat and fossil fuels. Steam methane reforming is the dominant commercial technology and currently produces hydrogen on a large scale but is not currently low carbon. Carbon capture is therefore essential with this process. Innovative technology developments may also help and research is underway. Alternative thermal methods of creating hydrogen indicate biomass gasification has potential. Other techniques at a low technology readiness level include separation of hydrogen from hydrocarbons using microwaves.

Electrolytic Routes to Hydrogen

Electrolytic hydrogen production also known as electrolysis splits water into hydrogen and oxygen using electricity in an electrolysis cell. Electrolysis produces pure hydrogen which is ideal for low temperature fuel cells for example in electric vehicles. Commercial electrolysers are on the market and have been in use for many years. Further technology developments will enable new generation electrolysers to be commercially competitive when used at scale with fluctuating renewable energy sources.

Biological Routes to Hydrogen

Biological routes usually involve the conversion of biomass to hydrogen and other valuable end products using microbial processes. Methods such as anaerobic digestion are feasible now at a laboratory and small pilot scale. This technology may prove to have additional or greater impact and value as route for the production of high value chemicals within a biorefinery concept.

Solar to Fuels Routes to Hydrogen

A number of experimental techniques have been reported the most developed of which is ‘solar to fuels’ - a suite of technologies that typically split water into hydrogen and oxygen using solar energy. These methods have close parallels with the process of photosynthesis and are often referred to as ‘artificial photosynthesis’ processes. The research is promising though views are divided on its ultimate utility. Competition for space will always limit the scale up of solar to fuels.

The briefing concludes that steam methane reforming and electrolysis are the most likely technologies to be deployed to produce low-carbon hydrogen at volume in the near to mid-term providing that the challenges of high levels of carbon capture (for steam methane reforming) and cost reduction and renewable energy sources (for electrolysis) can be overcome.

On 26 June the World Energy Council held a webinar presenting the results of its latest Innovation Insights Brief on hydrogen engaging three key experts on the topic:



Nigel Brandon Dean of the Faculty of Engineering Imperial College London



Craig Knight Director of Industrial Solutions Horizon Fuel Cell Technology



Dan Sadler H21 Project Manager for Equinor



During the webinar the experts answered a series of policy technical and safety questions from the audience. The webinar started with a poll to get a sense of which sectors attendees saw hydrogen playing a key role in 2040 - 77% chose industrial processes 54% mobility and 31% power generation. The questions ranged from the opportunities and limitations of blending hydrogen with natural gas to safety concerns surrounding hydrogen.



KEY HIGHLIGHTS:

How much hydrogen can be blended with natural gas depends on the rules and regulation of each country. The general consensus is that blending 10% by volume of hydrogen presents no safety concerns or specific difficulties. This would provide an opportunity to develop low hydrogen markets. Nevertheless blending should not be the end destination. It is not sufficient to meet carbon abatement targets.



Low carbon ammonia has a role to play in the new hydrogen economy. It is a proven and understood technology which is easier to move around the world and could be used directly as ammonia or cracked back into hydrogen.



One of the main focus today should be to replace grey hydrogen with green hydrogen in existing supply chains as there would be no efficiency losses in the process.



In China the push for hydrogen is transport-related. This is driven by air quality and energy independence concerns. In the next 10 years the full life cost of fuel cell electric vehicles (FCEVs) is expected to be lower than for internal combustion engines. This is due to the fact that FCEVs require less maintenance and that the residual value in the fuel cells is relatively high. At the end of life 95% of the platinum in fuel cells can be repurposed.



FCEVs should not be regarded as competing with battery electric vehicles they sit next to each other on product maps. FCEVs can benefit from the all of the advances in electric drive train systems and electric motors.



To close the webinar attendees were asked whether hydrogen was going through another hype cycle or if it was here to stay. 10% answered hype and 90% here to stay.

A radical decarbonization pathway for the Norwegian society towards 2050 is presented. The paper focuses on the role of hydrogen in the transition when present Norwegian petroleum export is gradually phased out. The study is in line with EU initiatives to secure cooperation opportunities with neighbouring countries to establish an international hydrogen market. Three analytical perspectives are combined. The first uses energy models to investigate the role of hydrogen in an energy and power market perspective without considering hydrogen export. The second uses an economic equilibrium model to examine the potential role of hydrogen export in value creation. The third analysis is a socio-technical case study on the drivers and barriers for hydrogen production in Norway. Main conclusions are that access to renewable power and hydrogen are prerequisites for decarbonization of transport and industrial sectors in Norway and that hydrogen is a key to maintain a high level of economic activity. Structural changes in the economy impacts of new technologies and key enablers and barriers in this transition are discussed.