According to a new World Energy Council report titled ‘Hydrogen on the Horizon: ready, almost set, go?’, as countries are exploring different ways to decarbonize, interest is surging in clean hydrogen around the world. Also, by 2050, the global energy consumption of hydrogen could be around 6% and 25%.
In July 2021, Saudi Arabia disclosed its plan for a green hydrogen facility of $5 billion, which is the world’s greatest project. Countries like Oman, the UAE, and Egypt (Middle East countries) earlier also announced their projects to increase the demand.
Before that, a Dii Desert Energy and Roland Berger report stated that by 2050, the green hydrogen industry alone could account for $200 billion in the Gulf region. This region is geographically situated between European and Asian markets. According to the World Energy Council report, this region is ‘a demand-focused market’.
The report further said that various countries have several ways of utilization of clean hydrogen.
While Europe wants to use hydrogen to decarbonize hard-to-abate sectors such as heavy industries and mass transportation, Asia shows a significant focus on hydrogen as a fuel for shipping and road transport and as a liquid fuel in the form of ammonia.
Secretary-General and CEO of the World Energy Council, Angela Wilkinson, said, “How countries want to produce and consume clean energy, and their immediate national priorities will shape large-scale hydrogen development and end-user uptake. It is important to identify user priorities to better understand hydrogen’s real potential.”
Jeroen van Hoof, global energy, utilities, and resources leader at PwC said, “this decade is crucial to develop hydrogen projects – including infrastructure to produce, import, distribute and use hydrogen at a large scale. If we do this successfully over the next few years, it can pave the way for hydrogen demand to grow exponentially beyond 2030.”
But the concern lies in the prices of low-carbon hydrogen which as compared to other energy sources is still higher which is a challenge.
The report also suggested countries to work together in order to create a global value chain and open the myriads of possibilities of hydrogen for the world economy.
