Chile 2020 Green Hydrogen Summit Summary

By Mike Giovanniello and Sarah King, Clean Energy Fellows

The Chile 2020 Green Hydrogen Summit, which spanned November 3-4, hosted speakers from across the world in both public and private sectors to discuss the international movement towards a green hydrogen economy and green recovery post-COVID. The conference as a whole highlighted one key point: there is consensus that the green hydrogen industry is seeing genuine growth, and green hydrogen will be critical in the energy transition.

Speakers throughout the two-day conference referenced the lack of progress that came from two distinctive rallies behind green hydrogen in the past. At this moment, however, the industry truly believes that green hydrogen is taking off — the idiom “third time’s a charm” exemplifies this unprecedented momentum.

In the first panel of the conference, government representatives from Chile, UK, Germany, EU, and Canada all explained why this movement is different from those prior. Previous emissions reductions did not necessitate green hydrogen integration, whereas more recent carbon neutrality commitments will require green hydrogen. Countries realize the role green hydrogen plays in decarbonization, and in order to achieve climate commitments, they are forming national hydrogen strategies to shape the path to neutrality. National commitments to building green hydrogen capacity, combined with renewables like solar and wind as the cheapest power today, makes a much stronger business case than before to build the hydrogen economy.

Companies and investors acknowledge this business case, and are ready to push ahead. Numerous private sector representatives at the summit shared their strong business development interests to build the green hydrogen industry. The political and business interests are primed to propel the hydrogen economy — now it is a matter of combining efforts to make it happen.

International cooperation is another key step to ensuring strategic and efficient green hydrogen development. Green hydrogen will be a globally traded commodity, and will thus require global relations to build the market. Andreas Feicht, German State Secretary for Energy, explained that Germany will rely on hydrogen imports, and is thus working to build international supply chains and partnerships with countries with high export potential like Chile.

While momentum in green hydrogen exists, businesses and investors still hesitate to invest in projects. To build confidence and encourage investment, governments must establish stable and reliable regulatory frameworks and policies to mitigate risk. Efforts to scale the hydrogen economy should also be embedded in GHG reduction goals that align public and private interests. Hydrogen has the potential to decarbonize processes where no other non-fossil fuel alternative is feasible, including industrial processes and long-duration energy storage, but without public sector investment and support, scaling these technologies will be difficult. Countries like Germany, which boasts €9-billion earmarked for hydrogen projects and a national strategy developed by public and private sector actors, are best positioned to capitalize on the potential $750 billion hydrogen economy because of their strategic coordination of sectors.

Public-private partnerships trigger positive feedback loops. When supported by public investment, promising technologies are able to more quickly demonstrate true potential to scale. Successful projects in turn attract further public and private investment, which drives down costs. In the case of green hydrogen production via electrolysis, presenters in panel three forecasted 57% CAPEX reduction and 45% OPEX reductions by 2030, driven by deployment-led innovations and increased production of cheap renewable energy. The hope, said Chile’s Minister of Energy Juan Carlos Jobet, is that this cycle reaches an inflection point, after which low-cost green hydrogen and proven end-uses form a hydrogen market that rapidly scales.

Momentum in green hydrogen is driving business and government actions and relations, and by strategically aligning each sector to enhance the initiatives of one another, we will see this momentum come to fruition in a global hydrogen economy.