IESW 2023: Global Green Hydrogen Outlook and Key Takeaways

At the IESW 2023, a conference session focused on the global outlook of the emerging green hydrogen industry in different markets, with speakers delineating investment, production and demand-supply megatrends and future potentials of the sector. 

Green Hydrogen is considered as one of the most compelling clean energy sources in the coming decades, with application in almost all critical sectors including mobility, energy storage, and power generation.

At the IESW 2023, a conference session focused on the global outlook of the emerging green hydrogen industry in different markets, with speakers delineating investment, production and demand-supply megatrends and future potentials of the sector. The session was moderated by Pawan Mulukutla, Director, Integrated Transport, Electric Mobility and Hydrogen, WRI India.

The global hydrogen production is said to be around 90 MMT in 2020, of which about 80 percent of the H2 is manufactured using fossil fuels and the remaining share with the help of residual gases in refineries. The current demand is largely from refineries, for ammonia and methanol production, and steel industry for DRI process.

"Global green hydrogen economy by 2050 will be dependent on favorable policies, commercial models and scalability requirements. The H2 as a clean energy source is fast moving from consultation stages towards implementation across the globe", said Ruturaj Govilkar, Country Manager and MD (India), Black & Veatch.

He added that for successful commercial models to emerge, factors such as off-take demand for products, technology maturity, power pricing and distribution infrastructure, adequate capacity, and policy development will be critical.

In terms of evolving commercial use cases in India for green hydrogen, sectors like transportation, refining, iron and steel, and chemical feedstocks may adopt hydrogen in short term, while fertilizer and marine in the medium- and aviation, power generation, and domestic cooking in the long term, Ruturaj Govilkar opined.

Speaking on the North American outlook for green H2, Barbara Clemenhagen, VP – Regulatory, CES, said that the clean H2 production is expected to achieve 10 MMT production capacity by 2030-2035, achieve a target of $ 1/kg price point in the US. With the recent announcement of $750 million by DoE for accelerating clean hydrogen technologies, the country is expanding its R&D and production capabilities.

She noted that green hydrogen is having immense opportunities in backup power generation and stationery (micro applications), and large-scale energy generation and storage, along with transportation. At present, about 33 operational green hydrogen facilities and 72 proposed projects are under development in the North American region, Clemenhagen added. The potentials of Canada and Mexico in the region's hydrogen plans were also discussed.

Nehal Divekar, Consulting Practice Manager - Emerging Technologies, CES, spoke on the effects of various green hydrogen initiatives and projects in the US. The 'H2@Scale' concept by National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) pegs the country's demand for hydrogen at 22-41 MMT per year in the coming years. 

 "There are significant interests emerging in the market for hydrogen pilots and viable technologies. However, the colour of the hydrogen – based on the nature of fuel used and carbon footprint of the production processes – is very important. Green hydrogen is the cleanest and therefore the most ambitious", he added.

He also spoke on the importance of Advanced Clean Energy Storage (ACES) project in Utah, one of the largest green H2 storage hub planned globally with a 22 MW electrolyzer to make up to 100 MT of hydrogen every day and store up to 5,500 metric tons or generate 300 GWh of electricity.

Further, the uniqueness of the Constellation Nine Mile Point project located at the nuclear plant in New York was discussed. Divekar elaborated on the vast potential of producing clean hydrogen from nuclear facilities, in which a 1GW nuclear plant can produce about 150 tonnes of hydrogen each year, which can iron and steel manufacturing in Mid-west, and fertilizer and transportation in California region in US. 

Stay tuned to ETN's IESW 2023 Show Daily and our LinkedIn page for daily updates on the entire week of dialogue and exhibition of clean energy technologies and solutions. To learn more about the event, visit IESW 2023.