Hydrogen

• [New] Wood Mackenzie expects the cost of green hydrogen to halve by 2030, largely driven by a patchwork of national hydrogen strategies around Europe and the EU's own 2030 electrolyzer targets of 40 gigawatts within its own borders and 40 GW just outside but importing into the EU.
• [New] The US Department of Energy has approved over $10 million in funding to help demonstrate how a nuclear power plant can make hydrogen in a way that could transform the nuclear energy industry.
• [New] The share of natural gas on the world energy market will grow in the coming decades, and Russia has no plans to dampen down its fossil fuel production.
• [New] The use of green hydrogen is expected to grow sharply in the coming decades as the European Union and governments around the world seek to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to net zero by 2050.
• By 2030, Australia could be using renewable electricity and water to produce 500,000 tonnes of green hydrogen annually, one of the most important commodities of the transition into a clean economy.
• With the UK government set to ban fossil fuel vehicles from 2035, hydrogen fuel cells could do much of the heavy lifting in decarbonising freight and public transport, where 80% of hydrogen demand in transport is likely to come from.
• In Germany, green hydrogen is expected outcompete hydrogen from fossil fuels in most scenarios by 2035.
• The European Commission recently set a target to produce up to 10 million tonnes of renewable hydrogen by 2030.
• The IEA's SPS only includes about 3 million tonnes of green hydrogen production in 2040, while the EU's hydrogen strategy is already targeting 10 million tonnes in the EU area alone by 2030 - ten years earlier.
• Total sales of new energy vehicles - including electric, plug-in hybrid and hydrogen fuel-cell vehicles - are expected to reach 1.1 million vehicles in China in 2020, about 5% of total auto sales.
• Compared to last year's outlook, BP's renewable energy's share of global energy in 2040 is expected to be 7 percentage points higher, due to higher-than-expected contributions from bioenergy, wind and solar power, supported by green hydrogen production and assumed large cost declines.
• Chile could unlock up to $90 billion of investment in renewable-energy infrastructure if its ships were to shift from fossil fuels to green hydrogen-based fuels manufactured with renewable energy.
• Japan' s largest power generator JERA unveiled plans to shut all inefficient coal-fired plants by 2030 and use greener fuels such as ammonia and hydrogen in its various thermal power plants.
• Energy Transition Outlook forecasts significant growth in hydrogen demand in Europe over the next three decades: From almost no demand today, it will account for almost half of end-use gas demand in Europe in 2050.
• By 2050, renewables and other clean power generation would create the largest investment opportunity at $385 billion from 2020 onwards, with green hydrogen next largest at $350 billion in current dollars.
• Goldman Sachs breathlessly predicts an addressable market for green hydrogen in Europe worth 2.2 trillion euros per year by 2050.
• The European Commission expects investment in renewable hydrogen to reach up to €470 billion by 2050, and between €3 billion and €18 billion for low-carbon fossil-based hydrogens.
• Germany will establish 5GW of the green hydrogen production by 2030 and develop transport infrastructure, alongside regulatory and subsidy schemes to stimulate demand and create a critical mass.
• The European Commission sees the production of green hydrogen as being competitive with that of grey hydrogen by 2030: Costs for renewable hydrogen are going down quickly.
• The Grattan Institute, the Institute for Energy Economics & Financial Analysis and others, have highlighted that Queensland could be creating 15,000 jobs and more in the near horizon by creating renewable energy and hydrogen for steel production in Australia.
• China has an opportunity now to boost the strategic sectors of the future, such as renewable energy, hydrogen, electric vehicles, green buildings, and smart grids.
• Nearly $11 trillion of investment in production, storage and transport infrastructure is needed for hydrogen to meet about a quarter of the world's energy needs by 2050.
• Australia's future hydrogen industry has the potential to generate 7,600 new jobs by 2050, many in regional Australia, with exports estimated to be worth around $11 billion a year in additional GDP.

Last updated: 22 November 2020