Policy & Socio-Economics

With the rising threat of climate change green hydrogen is increasingly seen as the high-capacity energy storage and transport medium of the future. This creates an opportunity for low- and middle-income countries to leverage their high renewable energy potential to produce use and export low-cost green hydrogen creating environmental and economic development benefits. While identifying ideal locations for green hydrogen production is critical for countries when defining their green hydrogen strategies there has been a paucity of adequate geospatial planning approaches suitable to low- and middle-income countries. It is essential for these countries to identify green hydrogen production sites which match demand to expected use cases such that their strategies are economically sustainable. This paper therefore develops a novel geospatial cost modelling method to optimize the location of green hydrogen production across different use cases with a focus on suitability to low- and middle-income countries. This method is applied in Kenya to investigate the potential hydrogen supply chain for three use cases: ammonia-based fertilizer freight transport and export. We find hydrogen production costs of e3.7–9.9/kgH2 are currently achievable across Kenya depending on the production location chosen. The cheapest production locations are identified to the south and south-east of Lake Turkana. We show that ammonia produced in Kenya can be cost-competitive given the current energy crisis and that Kenya could export hydrogen to Rotterdam with costs of e7/kgH2 undercutting current market prices regardless of the carrier medium. With expected techno-economic improvements hydrogen production costs across Kenya could drop to e1.8–3.0/kgH2 by 2030.

Policy Connect Carbon Connect and sector and Parliamentary experts have collaborated to present options for the gas grid to play a useful role in the UK’s transition to a low carbon energy system through the widespread use of low carbon gas. The report calls on Government to support the transition to a more flexible gas grid that uses various forms of gas including low carbon gases such as hydrogen and biomethane.

The conversion to renewable energy can be achieved when cities and communities start to depend on sustainable resources capable of providing for the basic needs of the community along with a reduction in the daily problems and issues that people face. These issues such as poverty hunger sanitation and economic difficulties are highlighted in the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) which aim to limit and eradicate these problems along with other environmental obstacles including climate change and Greenhouse Gases (GHGs). These SDGs containing 17 goals target each sector and provide propositions to solve such devastating problems. Hydrogen contributes to the targets of these sustainable developments since through its implementation in different industries the levels of GHG will drop and thus contribute to the climate change which Earth is facing. Further through the usage of such resources many job opportunities will also be developed thus enhancing the economy and lifting the status of society. This paper classifies the four different types of hydrogen and outlines the differences between them. The paper then emphasizes the importance of green hydrogen use within the shipping industry transportation and infrastructure along with economic and social development through job opportunities. Furthermore this paper provides case studies tackling green hydrogen status in the United Kingdom United States of America and European Union as well as Africa United Arab of Emirates and Asia. Finally challenges and recommendations concerning the green hydrogen industry are addressed. This paper aims to relate the use of green hydrogen to the direct and indirect goals of SDG.

Northern countries face a unique challenge in decarbonizing heating demands. This study compares two pathways to reduce carbon emissions from building heating by (1) replacing natural gas heaters with electric heat pumps or (2) replacing natural gas with renewable gas. Optimal annual system cost and capacity requirements for Metro Vancouver Canada are assessed for each pathway under nine scenarios. Results show that either pathway can be lower cost but the range of costs is more narrow for the renewable gas pathway. System cost is sensitive to heat demand with colder temperatures favouring the renewable gas pathway and milder temperatures favouring the electrification pathway. These results highlight the need for a better understanding of heating profiles and associated energy system requirements.

The European Union’s target to reach greenhouse gas neutrality by 2050 calls for a sharp decrease in the consumption of natural gas. This study assesses impacts of greenhouse gas neutrality on the gas system taking France and Germany as two case studies which illustrate a wide range of potential developments within the European Union. Based on a review of French and German GHG-neutral scenarios it explores impacts on gas infrastructure and estimates the changes in end-user methane price considering a business-as-usual and an optimised infrastructure pathway. Our results show that gas supply and demand radically change by mid-century across various scenarios. Moreover the analysis suggests that deep transformations of the gas infrastructure are required and that according to the existing pricing mechanisms the end-user price of methane will increase driven by the switch to low-carbon gases and intensified by infrastructure costs.

Hydrogen is a key cornerstone of the green transformation of the global economy and a major lever to diversify energy supplies and accelerate the clean energy transition. Hydrogen will be essential to replace natural gas coal and oil in hard-to-decarbonise sectors in industry mobility and energy. Hydrogen Valleys will become an important cornerstone in producing importing transporting and using clean hydrogen in Europe.

The recent strong increase in the penetration of renewable energy sources (RESs) in medium-voltage distribution grids (MVDNs) has raised the need for congestion management in such grids as they were not designed for this new condition. This paper examines to what extent producing green hydrogen through electrolyzers can profitably contribute to congestion alleviation in MVDNs in the presence of high amounts of RES as well as flexible consumers of electricity and a local heat system. To address this issue an incentive-based method for improving flexibility in MVDNs is used which is based on a single-leader–multiple-followers game formulated by bi-level mathematical programming. At the upper level the distribution system operator who is the leader of this game determines dynamic prices as incentives at each node based on the levels of generation and load. Next at the lower level providers of flexibility including producers using electrolyzers price-responsive power consumers heat consumers as well as heat producers respond to these incentives by reshaping their output and consumption patterns. The model is applied to a region in the North of The Netherlands. The obtained results demonstrate that converting power to hydrogen can be an economically efficient way to reduce congestion in MVDNs when there is a high amount of RES. However the economic value of electrolyzers as providers of flexibility to MVDNs decreases when more other options for flexibility provision exist.

The urgency to achieve net-zero carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions by 2050 as first presented by the IPCC special report on 1.5°C Global Warming has spurred renewed interest in hydrogen to complement electrification for widespread decarbonization of the economy. We present reflections on estimates of future hydrogen demand optimization of infrastructure for hydrogen production transport and storage development of viable business cases and environmental impact evaluations using life cycle assessments. We highlight challenges and opportunities that are common across studies of the business cases for hydrogen in Germany the UK the Netherlands Switzerland and Norway. The use of hydrogen in the industrial sector is an important driver and could incentivise large-scale hydrogen value chains. In the long-term hydrogen becomes important also for the transport sector. Hydrogen production from natural gas with capture and permanent storage of the produced CO2 (CCS) enables large-scale hydrogen production in the intermediate future and is complementary to hydrogen from renewable power. Furthermore timely establishment of hydrogen and CO2 infrastructures serves as an anchor to support the deployment of carbon dioxide removal technologies such as direct air carbon capture and storage (DACCS) and biohydrogen production with CCS. Significant public support is needed to ensure coordinated planning governance and the establishment of supportive regulatory frameworks which foster the growth of hydrogen markets.

The measures needed to limit global warming pose a particular challenge to current fossil fuel exporters who must not only decarbonise their local energy systems but also compensate for the expected decline in fossil fuel revenues. One possibility is seen in the export of green hydrogen. Using Algeria as a case study this paper analyses how different levels of ambition in hydrogen exports energy efficiency and fuel switching affect the costoptimal expansion of the power sector for a given overall emissions reduction path. Despite falling costs for photovoltaics and wind turbines the results indicate that in countries with very low natural gas prices such as Algeria a fully renewable electricity system by 2050 is unlikely without appropriate policy measures. The expansion of renewable energy should therefore start early given the high annual growth rates required which will be reinforced by additional green hydrogen exports. In parallel energy efficiency is a key factor as it directly mitigates CO2 emissions from fossil fuels and reduces domestic electricity demand which could instead be used for hydrogen production. Integrating electrolysers into the power system could potentially help to reduce specific costs through load shifting. Overall it seems advisable to analyse hydrogen exports together with local decarbonisation in order to better understand their interactions and to reduce emissions as efficiently as possible. These results and the methodology could be transferred to other countries that want to become green hydrogen exporters in the future and are therefore a useful addition for researchers and policy makers.

The worsening climate crisis has increased the urgency of transitioning energy systems from fossil fuels to renewable sources. However many industrialized countries are struggling to meet their growing demand for renewable energy (RE) through domestic production alone and therefore seek to import additional RE using carriers such as hydrogen ammonia or metals. The pressing question for RE importers is therefore how to select trading partners i.e. RE exporting countries. Recent research has identified a plethora of different selection criteria reflecting the complexity of energy systems and international cooperation. However there is little guidance on how to reduce this complexity to more manageable levels as well as a lack of tools for effective partner evaluation. This article aims to fill these gaps. It proposes a new multidimensional framework for evaluating and comparing potential RE trading partners based on four dimensions: economy and technology environment and development regulation and governance and innovation and cooperation. Focusing on Germany as an RE importer an exploratory factor analysis is used to identify a consolidated set of composite selection criteria across these dimensions. The results suggest that Germany’s neighboring developed countries and current net energy exporters such as Canada and Australia are among the most attractive RE trading partners for Germany. A dashboard tool has been developed to provide the framework and composite criteria including adjustable weights to reflect the varying preferences of decision-makers and stakeholders. The framework and the dashboard can provide helpful guidance and transparency for partner selection processes facilitating the creation of RE trade networks that are essential for a successful energy transition.