A hydrogen future?

Abstract

Hydrogen is emerging as an alternate carrier of energy. It has the potential to play a key role in the decarbonisation of the energy sector. Governments around the world and in Australia are signalling interest in moving the hydrogen economy forward. Current efforts are focused on developing hydrogen visions and strategies, supported by investments and partnerships with industry to progress technology and unlock the barriers across the hydrogen value chain. KPMG has worked with CSIRO, ATCO Gas and the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) in the development of a Hydrogen City tool (H2City Tool) (available for public download from the ARENA website). The H2City Tool assists users with screening communities that may be suitable for transitioning to a hydrogen-based energy future and provides two broad pathways: a hydrogen pathway and an electrification pathway, allowing a relative comparison to be made between these options. This abstract provides a summary of outcomes arising from analysis performed by KPMG using the H2City Tool, which illustrates the conditions and viability of several pathways to convert to a hydrogen-based energy future. These pathways were: Scenario 1 – converting a large metropolitan community to hydrogen; Scenario 2 – adopting hydrogen to fuel transport at scale; Scenario 3 – adopting hydrogen in electricity grid firming at scale; and Scenario 4 – adopting the concept of hydrogen hubs in regional Australia.