Transitioning towards Green Hydrogen: Challenges, Learnings and Opportunities

Abstract

Hydrogen is considered to play a very important role in the universal energy transition and in the mitigation of greenhouse gases. Being the most abundant element, Hydrogen is not so freely available but locked up in the form of fossil fuels, water and gases. A large amount of energy is required to generate hydrogen, either in the blue or green form. It is estimated that by 2050, 70% of the hydrogen produced will be green i.e., through renewable electricity via electrolysis. Renewable energy sources should ideally be employed to phase out coal and natural gas from being used to produce electricity due to the significant energy losses involved in producing green hydrogen. Since hydrogen is a crucial type of energy storage for intermittent renewable sources, there will likely be some overlap in actual use. Although different forms of producing hydrogen are known, the world is determined to increase support for the generation of green hydrogen through water splitting using renewable energy sources because of its low-carbon emissions. Despite the fact that hydrogen appears to be expensive compared to direct electrification, it is impossible to electrify some of the high-carbon emitting industries such as shipping, aviation, cement, and thermal industries. However, the automobile and transportation industries are also keen to switch over to hydrogen-powered vehicles than electric vehicles because of the long-range, easy and quick refueling, and zero carbon emissions. As the existing hydrogen-based technologies are still at their infancy expect a few application areas, a lot of research and testing has to be carried out in order to ensure the efficiency, reliability and cost-effectiveness of hydrogen-based solutions. Some of the developed nations such as Japan, UK, USA, Korea is already in the race to manufacture hydrogen-powered automobiles which are perceived as the technology of the future. Yet, none of these governments have realized the implications of switching over to hydrogen in quick time and haven’t made any guidelines for their manufacturing, use and servicing. One such example in this regard is that of hydrogen filling stations in a futuristic society like the UK that fell short of their potential even before their introduction, as not many cars are on road to generate substantial revenue as anticipated by their investors. Being a new phase shift in the society, it takes some time for the public and other stakeholders to understand the technology, its pros and cons and then make up their mind to buy a hydrogen fuelled car. All these aspects need sufficient time, and multiple rounds of testing, policy discussion, policy implementations, stakeholder meets, marketing, etc. to reach a profitable level. Nevertheless, in spite of all the odds, hydrogen-based technologies have a promising outlook and foresee huge opportunities in the near future as the technology matures into a realistic and feasible alternative to the currently used fossil fuel based or EV based technologies.