Global economies are set to move on hydrogen, with increasing investment and industry expanding projects in the pipeline which seek to make hydrogen mainstream.
Why hydrogen?
Hydrogen has worked its way into an increasing number of industrial processes. It is considered to be a clean fuel and produces less emissions than its fossil fuel counterparts, though this doesn’t make hydrogen a zero-emission fuel source. The Climate Change Committee estimate that hydrogen production in the UK could scale-up to 90 TWh by 2035, equalling almost a third of the size of the UK’s current power sector.
Hydrogen is primarily produced through thermal processes or electrolysis. The thermal process involves high temperatures and steam reforming of natural gas, a process which accounts for roughly 95 per cent of hydrogen produced today. Electrolysis involves using water to separate hydrogen and oxygen.
What’s being done?
Between May 2022 and January 2023, $29bn of investments have been committed to hydrogen, representing a total investment increase of 35 per cent over this period. Globally, a report by the Hydrogen Council tracked 1,040 hydrogen projects, with roughly half of these focussing on large-scale industrial applications.
However, estimates suggest that the hydrogen industry needs to grow sevenfold to support the global energy transition, with goals for hydrogen to account for 10 per cent of total global energy by 2050.
Key barriers to production
Hydrogen faces two key barriers in today’s market: a lack of renewable sources for its production, and reliance on critical minerals.
Scaling up hydrogen will increase reliance on a host of materials, including copper, aluminium, nickel, platinum, zinc and more. Low carbon hydrogen production also demands clean energy sources for production, including wind and solar, and carbon capture technology to mitigate emissions associated with hydrogen production. All in all, the growth of hydrogen needs to work in tandem with the clean energy transition to support net zero targets and ensure efficient use of virgin materials. Since clean energy plays such a vital role in hydrogen’s production process, investment in renewables is investment in hydrogen.
Hydrogen vehicles
Europe is on track to ban the sale of new petrol and diesel cars by 2035, leaving room for the expansion of hydrogen fuel cell vehicles.
Pure hydrogen fuel cell electric vehicles (FCEVs) generate electricity without combustion by combining hydrogen and oxygen to create an electrochemical reaction. This electricity is then stored in a battery which serves the vehicles electric motor. FCEVs produce zero tailpipe emissions, exhausting water vapour only.
When combined with energy storage technology, FCEVs have a reliable range and quick refuel times. Decarbonisation of the transport sector could mean further investment in hydrogen in order to support the development of FCEVs as end-users switch away from traditional fossil fuel vehicles.
Scotland’s hydrogen economy
Closer to home, Scotland is becoming something of a global hydrogen hub. Based on current trajectories, it is estimated that hydrogen could provide 18 per cent of Scotland’s energy by 2045.
What makes Scotland well-suited to hydrogen production and storage is its abundance of natural resources, existing infrastructure, and a workforce skilled in energy production. This coupled with a number of Scotland’s key industries being well suited to hydrogen as a fuel source has placed Scotland’s hydrogen industry on the map.
The pharmaceutical industry is being heralded as a significant consumer of hydrogen power. The industry uses hydrogen to manufacture certain vitamins and products, with hydrogen being used to purify gasses containing oxygen and remove water. This will be significant to Ayrshire, an area of Scotland known for pharmaceutical production.
Scotland’s transport sector could demand as much as 14.9 TWh of hydrogen a year by 2045, presenting further opportunity for Scotland’s hydrogen economy.
Finally, the UK are world leaders in offshore wind, and Scotland has a number of offshore and onshore wind farms in operation. As Scotland sees its wind power generation increase, its growing supply of renewable energy provides huge opportunity for its hydrogen sector which has potential to reach 25 GW by 2045 assuming market conditions remain consistent and wind power continues to pump Scotland’s energy supply chain.
