Green Hydrogen Production

Abstract

Hydrogen will likely play a key role in future energy systems if one wants to transition away from carbon. There are at least three reasons for interest in hydrogen. First, after 2030, the electricity costs will be lower than those of any of the fossil fuel gases and fuels for heat on a comparable energy basis, at least in regions near Earth's rich solar and wind resources that have potentially cheap surplus electricity. This is likely to be true even after considering differences in the effective quality of the energy content. Second, transitioning from fossil fuel-dominated transport systems to cleaner alternatives should be promoted. Hydrogen is the only platform for electro-fuel production that offers a reasonable scale that results in overall energy system cost savings while leaving little additional system reserves (e.g., highly grid-shaped electricity). Third, using hydrogen as the sole renewable production fuel provides compelling intermittent resource decoupling from loads, potentially promoting more cost-effective and optimized overall energy system design.