It is safe to say that green hydrogen is having a moment, as numerous new initiatives have recently been announced. By 2030, the EU intends to invest $430 billion in green hydrogen, and nations like Chile, Japan, Australia, and Saudi Arabia are also making significant investments in the technology.
In addition, it was made public in February that Portugal will begin producing green hydrogen by the end of the following year and has already committed €10 billion to eight distinct projects.
So, what is green hydrogen exactly? Let's begin with hydrogen. The lightest element, hydrogen is the first element you'll see on the periodic table. Additionally, despite the fact that the universe contains more hydrogen than any other element, its atoms must be "decoupled" from the other elements with which they are associated. Furthermore, the sustainability of hydrogen energy is determined by how this decoupling is carried out.
Globally, huge investments in renewable energy are being made as a result of the haste to reach net zero. The transition to green energy is made even more urgent by rising energy prices as a result of the conflict in Ukraine, which may increase the benefits for investors.
The nearly two billion people who live in fragile and conflict-affected areas need a net zero world more than anyone else: The climate emergency may literally be a matter of life or death for them.
In addition, a lot of these places have a lot of potential for investments in the green transition, either in energy sources like wind, solar, or hydropower, or in important mineral sources that are needed for green technologies.
However, conflicts and tensions can be exacerbated by green energy projects, particularly in the world's most fragile regions. There is a significant chance that the world's green transition will come at the expense of higher levels of conflict and suffering if investments are not made correctly.
The rapidly rising demand for cobalt in the Democratic Republic of the Congo puts the stability of mineral-producing regions, which are already characterized by poor governance of the mining sector and a history of human rights abuses, in jeopardy.
The process of "steam methane reforming" fossil fuels employs a catalyst to react methane and steam, resulting in the production of hydrogen, which accounts for more than 95% of the hydrogen that is currently utilized for energy production. Grey hydrogen is the by-product of that process, which also results in the production of carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide.
Green hydrogen development is critical to achieving the goals set forth in the Paris Agreement because this process generates 830 million metric tons of CO2 annually—roughly equivalent to Indonesia's and the UK's annual emissions.
The bad news is that zero-carbon or "green" hydrogen is more expensive to extract than traditional grey hydrogen, which extracts hydrogen from fossil fuels through chemical reactions and heat. Green hydrogen is made by "splitting water" with renewable energy; electrolysis, although less than 0.1% of hydrogen is currently produced in this manner.
The Green Catapult initiative, which was launched by seven of the largest hydrogen producers in the world last year, aims to halve the current cost of hydrogen to less than $2 per kilogram by accelerating the scale and production of green hydrogen by fifty times. According to the Hydrogen Council's analysis, green hydrogen would become the preferred fuel in numerous sectors, including shipping and steel production, at a price of $2.
Hydrogen's ability to be stored in fuel cells, which are basically huge batteries, is one of its major advantages. This makes hydrogen a more dependable source of energy than renewable energy sources like wind and solar. Fuel cells can be connected to the grid to generate power, but they can also operate independently of the grid.
Hydrogen also has nearly three times as much energy per pound as fossil fuels. In order to liquefy hydrogen, which is 57 times lighter than gasoline fumes, it must be cooled to -253 °C or compressed to 700 times atmospheric pressure in order to be delivered as a compressed gas. Analysts estimate that clean hydrogen could meet 24 per cent of world energy demand by 2050, with annual sales in the range of €630 billion.
A report on hydrogen's potential as a green energy source that was released in 2019 by IRENA provided some grounds for optimism. Even though the need for new supply infrastructure could limit hydrogen use and a hydrogen-based energy transition will not happen overnight, the dedicated hydrogen pipelines have existed for decades and could be refurbished along with existing gas pipelines, according to the report.
Cost is the main issue. The majority of the technical difficulties can be resolved, and considering that the United States alone transports 70 million tonnes of hydrogen annually, much of the infrastructure is already in place. However, the price of hydrogen in the United States is currently three times higher than the price of natural gas. Additionally, the process of producing grey hydrogen is more expensive than the process of producing green hydrogen due to the high cost of electrolysis, though it is becoming less expensive eventually.
Portugal's announcement is so significant because of the importance of government support. Reuters was informed by Portugal's Environment Minister, Matos Fernandes, that: Portugal will undoubtedly be producing green hydrogen by the end of 2022. Over time, Portugal will be able to completely transform its paradigm and become an energy exporting nation thanks to green hydrogen.
The expectation is that technologies will mature, and that the scale of the proposed projects will result in lower costs. Other nations are launching even more ambitious plans, such as China, which has stated that it intends to produce one million fuel cell vehicles by the year 2030. However, according to IRENA's 2018 report, the right policy and regulatory framework remains crucial to stimulate private investment in hydrogen production in the first place, despite the fact that hydrogen could be a key component of 100% renewable energy systems.
