According to panellists at International Energy Week, the hydrogen economy should take off in 2023, with China and the US in a "race to the top" and Europe scrambling to catch up.
Growing attention to capital inflows to developing countries, along with the United Nations Climate Change Conference in the UAE at the end of the year and national industrial strategies that favor clean energy projects, should help boost hydrogen projects around the world, said Marco Alvera, CEO Tree Energy Solutions
He stressed that the approximately 500 TWh of renewable energy needed to replace the current demand for fossil fuel-derived hydrogen in Europe is 10 million tons per year, which is about the same as the total production renewable energy sources on the continent in 2020.
Steel decarburization solution
Discussion participants agreed That the best application of renewable and low-carbon hydrogen is to replace the existing consumption of fossil fuel-derived hydrogen in industry, as well as in sectors that are difficult to electrify, such as the steel industry.
S&P Global Commodity Insights analysis shows that the use of hydrogen in the steel industry has the biggest impact on reducing CO2 emissions.
Martin Lambert, head of hydrogen research at the Oxford Institute for Energy Research, said that decarbonizing the existing use of hydrogen in ammonia processing and production was " an obvious place to start” and keep the hydrogen industry going for a long time.
Platts estimated Dutch TTF gas prices one month ahead at €47.68/MWh on March 1st, although prices have been above €100 for much of 2022 /MWh amid the energy crisis caused by Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
