An Immense Promise for Low-carbon Energy Sources
Green hydrogen holds immense promise as a low-carbon energy source and a decarbonization enabler for hard-to-abate sectors like steel, cement, chemicals, and transportation. With an estimated abatement potential of ~3 billion tonnes of CO2e by 2050, it is a key piece of the climate puzzle.
However, green hydrogen currently accounts for less than 1% of total hydrogen production, primarily due to high production costs and scalability challenges. Overcoming these hurdles requires technological advancements in electrolysis, supportive policy interventions, and the development of robust market frameworks.
Download Greening Hydrogen below to explore the economics, deployment potential, and challenges associated with green hydrogen.
Four Key Points
Incorporating hydrogen into the energy system is not a fanciful, futuristic idea—it’s already being done. Today, hydrogen is commonly used as an input in petroleum refining, where it acts to break apart complex hydrocarbons and remove impurities.
Distinct technology pathways for green hydrogen are emerging—and each brings its own challenges and upsides. The alkaline water electrolyzer (AWE) currently dominates the market, with a roughly 60% share; proton exchange membrane (PEM) electrolyzers, with a 30% market share, do better with intermittent renewable energy sources like solar and wind energy.
Hydrogen promises to help decarbonize some otherwise hard-to-abate sectors, including steel and shipping. Currently, the largest driver of current low-carbon hydrogen demand is the chemicals industry because hydrogen and nitrogen are the two key ingredients needed to produce ammonia via the Haber-Bosch process.
What constitutes green hydrogen and is therefore eligible for generous tax credits and other support? Three often-mentioned criteria are that green hydrogen must prove itself to be new, nearby, and matched quickly with demand.
LONGi and the Green Hydrogen Opportunity
Was LONGi’s decision to expand into green hydrogen manufacturing the right one for sustainable growth and long-term financial success?
In 2021 LONGi Hydrogen was founded with the mission to become a large-scale electrolyzer and green H2 production solution provider. The decision to expand into this business was driven in part by the belief that LONGi could apply the same approach that worked so effectively in the solar panel market (driving cost reductions through technological innovation and economies of scale) to the electrolyzer market.
Stegra: Green Hydrogen Steel
How does a steel production plant become fully decarbonized?
In February 2021, Dr. Maria Persson Gulda joined Harald Mix and Carl-Erik Lagercrantz to build the world’s first full-size, zero-carbon steel plant using green hydrogen, a venture that would be potentially the biggest transformation in the centuries-old steel industry has seen.
Greening Hydrogen: Challenges, Innovations and Opportunities
By: Gernot Wagner and Katie Gilbert
Like many in the green energy space, LONGi Green Energy Technology Company is ready to figure out whether green hydrogen—a potential source of renewable energy—can actually be a viable solution in society’s race to decarbonize.