miscellaneous

IRENA Report Explores Potential of Green Hydrogen 

The latest report by the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) finds hydrogen from renewable power, so called green hydrogen, could translate into 8 percent of global energy consumption by 2050.  The report, ‘Hydrogen: a renewable energy perspective’ states 16 percent of all generated electricity would be used to produce hydrogen by then. Green hydrogen could offer ways to decarbonize a range of sectors where it is proving difficult to meaningfully reduce CO2 emissions.
IRENA Report Explores Potential of Green Hydrogen 
Courtesy of IRENA

Decarbonization impacts depends on how hydrogen is produced. Current and future sourcing options can be divided into grey (fossil fuel-based), blue (fossil fuel-based production with carbon capture, utilization and storage) and green (renewables-based) hydrogen. Blue and green hydrogen can play a role in the transition and synergies exist.

With falling cost, the potential of green hydrogen particularly for so called ‘hard-to-decarbonize’ sectors and energy-intensive industries like iron and steel, chemicals, shipping, trucks and aviation is rapidly becoming more compelling given the urgency to limit CO2 emissions. This includes direct hydrogen use but also the production of liquid and gaseous fuels such as ammonia, methanol and synthetic jet fuel from green hydrogen. Electrolyzer deployment is currently ramping up from MW to GW-scale as witnessed by dozens of projects worldwide.

Large-scale adoption of hydrogen could also fuel an increase in demand for renewable power generation, IRENA’s report finds. In total, IRENA sees a global economic potential for 19 exajoule (EJ) of hydrogen from renewable electricity in total final energy consumption by 2050. This translates into around 4-16 TW of solar and wind generation capacity to be deployed to produce renewable hydrogen and hydrogen-based products in 2050.

However, deployment of hydrogen-based solutions will not happen overnight. Hydrogen might likely trail other strategies such as electrification of end-use sectors, and its use will target specific applications. The need for a dedicated new supply infrastructure may also limit hydrogen use to certain countries that decide to follow this strategy. Existing natural gas pipelines could be refurbished, but implications must be further explored.

Green hydrogen could make a substantial contribution to the energy transition in the long run. The report recommends acknowledging the strategic role of hydrogen in the transition and at the same time calls on governments and private sector to better understand energy system benefits, cost-reduction and investment requirements to tap into the potential of a hydrogen future.

Information provided by IRENA

Baterías con premio en la gran feria europea del almacenamiento de energía
El jurado de la feria ees (la gran feria europea de las baterías y los sistemas acumuladores de energía) ya ha seleccionado los productos y soluciones innovadoras que aspiran, como finalistas, al gran premio ees 2021. Independientemente de cuál o cuáles sean las candidaturas ganadoras, la sola inclusión en este exquisito grupo VIP constituye todo un éxito para las empresas. A continuación, los diez finalistas 2021 de los ees Award (ees es una de las cuatro ferias que integran el gran evento anual europeo del sector de la energía, The smarter E).