Hydrogen Energy Ministerial Meeting (HEM) 2018 in Japan declared
that "hydrogen can be a key contributor to the energy transitions underway
to a clean energy future and an important component of a broad based, secure,
sustainable and efficient energy portfolio". The meeting brought
together over 300 stakeholders, including ministerial officials, top executives
from related companies and representatives from 21 countries, regions and organizations
from around the world.
Key economic sectors, including transportation, industrial
manufacturing, heat and power generation, can use hydrogen. Fuel cell
technologies are can efficiently generate electricity and heat from hydrogen.
And, what is very important, hydrogen stands out for its versatility and
storage capability.
Hydrogen can be produced from various sources, including renewable
energy, nuclear and fossil fuels, using carbon dioxide capture, utilization and
storage. Sourcing options can be
categorised as “grey” (fossil fuel-based), “blue” (fossil fuel-based production
with carbon capture, utilisation and storage) and “green” (renewables-based)
hydrogen when considering associated CO2 emissions. Green hydrogen produced
through renewable-powered electrolysis is projected to grow rapidly in the
coming years, and this could create opportunities for decarbonisation of a
number of economic sectors where it is difficult to essentially reduce
CO2 emissions.
IRENA estimates that about 120
million tonnes of hydrogen are produced now annually all over the world, of
which two-thirds are pure hydrogen and one-third is in mixture with other
gases. Around 95% of all hydrogen is generated from natural gas and coal. Other
5% are generated as a by-product from chlorine production through electrolysis.
A global economic potential for 19 EJ of hydrogen from renewable
electricity is expected by 2050 in total final energy consumption, what
corresponds to around 4-16 terawatts (TW) of solar and wind generation
capacity to be deployed to produce renewable hydrogen and hydrogen-based
products. For comparison, today’s global power generation capacity is 7
TW, with 1 TW of solar and wind power capacity in place.
