Green hydrogen article15 Nov 2023 06:44
PUBLISHED 5 OCTOBER, 2023
Hydrogen and geothermal power have the potential to create vast new pools of renewable energy, a lifeline for a world struggling to curtail its dependence on fossil fuels.
Oil, gas and coal still provide 80% of the world's energy, but most renewable sources throw up challenges around cost and intermittency. Harnessing constant, predictable energy from water, with the promise of both hydrogen and geothermal heat, opens up new possibilities for countries trying to slow the impact of climate change.
Hyrdrogen’s big moment
Experts believe that hydrogen’s moment, long heralded, may have finally arrived. “In the past, it was a common joke that ‘hydrogen is the future, and it will always be’”, says Andreas Bieringer, director, hydrogen business development & commercial, at Masdar, UAE’s renewable energy flagship.
Hydrogen, though, is at last set to become a major market disruptor in the energy sector. The consultancy Deloitte forecasts that hydrogen will outpace liquid natural gas by the end of the decade and become a US$1.4trn market by 2050 [1].
Hydrogen’s USP is that companies can deploy it across a range of energy applications, for industry, power generation and in transportation, including for large trucks and potentially even jet aircraft. And the real excitement is around green hydrogen, created through water electrolysis, using renewable energy sources such as wind and solar.
Masdar is aiming to become an international leader in green hydrogen, with the goal of producing up to 1m tonnes of the fuel annually by the end of the decade.
Mr Bieringer acknowledges that there are still significant challenges to scaling green hydrogen production, including a lack of infrastructure and a reluctance by customers to sign long-term agreements of more than ten years, which are key to securing financing. There is also resistance to paying a premium for hydrogen that is produced sustainably, he adds.
The private sector cannot tackle all the big issues in a vacuum. “To make green hydrogen a commercially viable and tradable commodity, it is important that governments and nations prioritise the establishment of a transparent and robust regulatory framework, accompanied by policies that incentivise green hydrogen production,” says Mr Bieringer.
That is now starting to happen. The EU’s Renewable Energy Directive is a legal framework designed to encourage clean energy usage across the continent, while the US’s Inflation Reduction Act provides broad incentives to spur green energy production.
For its part, Masdar has announced a series of partnerships, including with major energy companies and airlines. In May 2022 Masdar, ADNOC (Abu Dhabi National Oil Company) and BP agreed to collaborate on a range of renewable energy projects, including BP’s UK green hydrogen project, HyGreen Teesside. “Since then, HyGreen has substantially advanced, and was recently selected to progress to the nego
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