Green hydrogen - A real opportunity to revolutionise energy production or a load of electrolysed h2O?

For a colourless gas this element is getting a colourful wrap

Clean hydrogen is green hydrogen which is the separation of water into hydrogen and oxygen using an electric current produced by a renewable energy source such as solar or wind. From here there is a number of uses for it; by adding green hydrogen to natural gas, it can be burned in thermal power or district heating plants, it can be used as a precursor for other energy carriers, for example from ammonia to synthetic hydrocarbons or to directly fuel cells in modes of transport.

Whilst green hydrogen is in the renewable race there is still a long way to go, with 99% of it currently being produced through a pollution heavy process involving fossil fuels and the steam methane by-product. A silver lining to this tinged cloud is the dive in hydrogen production costs predicted as electrolyser prices are already down but will require more time and scale. This will depend on the supply of large amounts of cheap, renewable electricity as a lot of this (60%-80%) is lost in electrolysis.

The abundance in use of this appealing form of fuel is ever increasing; for where it was once used in mostly industry including oil and steel, it is now playing a role in transportation, home energy and energy storage. Interest in the industry is skyrocketing as major oil and gas firms along with governments are planning to incorporate it in their net-zero carbon strategies. Fighting for gold (or green) in hydrogen development are oil majors such as Shell Nederland who bid for capacity in a Dutch offshore wind tender so it could create a record-breaking hydrogen cluster in the Netherlands with BP following suit in the development of an Australian green hydrogen plant in Western Australia, powered by 1.5 gigawatts of wind and solar capacity.

However, the obstacles that need to be surmounted to satisfy these potential markets involve storage and transporting this highly flammable, space invasive gas. Transporting green hydrogen will require dedicated pipelines which will be energy-intensive and expensive although as hydrogen is already widely used by industry, these technical problems are not insurmountable. Already there is gray hydrogen which is used as a quick- win to bridge the gap whilst green hydrogen is still somewhat expensive, and its volume is limited. By converting the gray hydrogen to green, with its infrastructure already in place, it creates an immediate demand and immediate emissions reductions.

Cutting the cost of production will inevitably encourage massive investment and massive scale but if we’re serious about decarbonisation, there is no choice but to GO HYDRO(gen).