Summary of Exploring Renewable Hydrogen Production Pathways Webinar
Covered by Michael Giovanniello, CHBC Fellow
On September 9, Renewable Gas 360 hosted the webinar “Exploring Renewable Hydrogen Production Pathways.” Bart Biebuyck (Fuel Cells and Hydrogen Joint Undertaking), Michael Decker (Mitsubishi Power), Dave Edwards (Air Liquide), and John Quin (FortisBC) shared information on their organizations’ renewable hydrogen projects and offered insights into the future of renewable hydrogen production.
European Union announces ambitious hydrogen strategy, champions electrolysis
In July, the European Union announced a detailed strategy to scale decarbonized hydrogen focused on expanding low-cost renewable energy and accelerating technological development. The strategy, Biebuyck stated, was motivated by Hydrogen Europe’s 2019 industry roadmap, which found hydrogen could supply 24% of Europe’s energy needs, create 5.4 million jobs, and eliminate 560 megatons of annual CO2 emissions by 2050.
To scale production, the EU aims to establish a full value chain through five key areas: investment, demand, infrastructure, research and innovation, and international collaboration. The strategy heavily favors green hydrogen and outlines ambitious benchmarks, including increasing electrolyzer capacity to 6 GW by 2024 and 40 GW by 2030.
This growth, Biebuyck states, will require extensive public and private sector collaboration. Under the new strategy, the European Clean Hydrogen Alliance will bring investors together with governmental, institutional, and industrial partners to establish a hydrogen technology pipeline. For states like California, which has a rich track-record of fostering innovation through public-private partnerships, the EU’s strategy may offer insights into expanding hydrogen initiatives.
Companies respond to favorable signals in North America, invest in large-scale renewable hydrogen projects
The webinar’s industry representatives shared Byubieck’s optimism and outlined an immediate business case for developing at-scale hydrogen projects. Speakers emphasized that many technologies in the renewable hydrogen value chain, such as geological storage and hydrogen turbines, are largely proven and reliable.
Scaling these applications is critical for expanding renewable hydrogen production. Edwards summarized, “we aren’t waiting for a technology silver bullet to save the day and enable hydrogen, we’re ready to do it at scale today.”
On the storage and power side, Ducker distilled Mitsubishi Power’s assessment of the North American hydrogen market into four “signposts.” First, the company is seeing favorable regulatory cues, particularly in western states’ ambitious decarbonization goals. Second, major seasonal curtailment and deficits in California’s grid demonstrate a clear need for seasonal energy storage. Ducker elaborated that as increased renewable grid penetration exaggerates this trend, hydrogen storage will become a critical complement to inter-daily intermittency services provided by lithium-ion batteries. Third, production and storage costs continue to decrease. And finally, reliable and scalable technologies already exist for storing hydrogen and converting it into energy.
These signals led Mitsubishi Power and Magnum Development to launch the Advanced Clean Energy Storage (ACEP) project, which is slated to become the world’s largest clean energy storage facility. With five salt domes capable of storing 40 GW each, the Utah site will store excess renewable energy in the form of hydrogen to be converted back into electricity to meet grid needs.
Mitsubishi Power has also been contracted by the Intermountain Power Agency (IPA) to replace existing natural gas turbines with advanced turbines capable of using a mix of renewable hydrogen and natural gas. These turbines will provide 840 MW of reliable energy to LA and other parts of California and Utah and can be easily modified to phase into 100% hydrogen.
On the production side, Edwards echoed Ducker’s belief that it is not a question of whether the renewable hydrogen market scales, but of how quickly. “Investments are the measure by which an industry can show that opportunities are real,” said Edwards, detailing how in the last year Air Liquide has invested in fueling stations, distribution infrastructure, hydrogen liquefiers, and electrolyzer deployment.
The company, he notes, divides the hydrogen sector into two markets: hydrogen for established processes (fertilizer, refining, etc.) and hydrogen as an energy vector. Hydrogen vehicle adoption has driven development in the latter, resulting in a distinct set of policies and investment opportunities.
Recognizing the significant market potential for hydrogen as an energy vector, Air Liquide recently announced two major at-scale renewable hydrogen production projects. First, it is investing $150 million in a facility using renewable natural gas. The plant will produce 30 tons of renewable liquid hydrogen a day by 2025, enough to fuel 40,000 to 50,000 light-duty vehicles, such as forklifts and passenger cars. The company also plans to spend $40 million (Can) to install 20 MW in electrolyzer capacity at an existing facility in Canada.
Utilities also hold a major stake in the future of renewable hydrogen production. According to Quinn, renewable natural gas will be the biggest lever for gas system decarbonizations up to 2030, after which hydrogen could begin to scale. Policy support and regulatory clarity are key to unlocking utility applications, such blending hydrogen into natural gas lines and supplying hydrogen-sourced electricity to the grid.
Q&A: biogas versus electrolysis
The webinar ended with a discussion on the cost-competitiveness of unsubsidized renewable hydrogen from biogas and electrolysis. According to Edwards, the two pathways can serve different roles. On the one hand, renewable natural gas can scale quickly because of its compatibility with existing infrastructure. On the other, electrolysis has a better environmental footprint, but relies on cheap electricity and high utilization rates to be economical. Biebuyck added that in some places in Europe, green hydrogen is already competitive with grey hydrogen due to low-cost renewable energy.