New analysis reveals the potential of green hydrogen

The latest whitepaper in the Danfoss Impact Series, ‘Green Hydrogen: A Critical Balancing Act’, explores the opportunities and challenges for green hydrogen as governments and industry look for solutions to decrease carbon footprint and meet the goals of the Paris Climate Agreement. While the technologies needed to produce hydrogen efficiently are available, there is a need to be strategic about how, when, and where it is produced and consumed.

Green hydrogen offers an innovative solution to replace fossil fuels in hard-to-abate sectors that are not easily decarbonised through direct electrification – such as aviation, long-distance shipping, and heavy industry. In October 2023, the U.S. Department of Energy affirmed the US’ commitment to hydrogen adoption, announcing a US$7 billion investment in seven regional clean hydrogen hubs to accelerate the domestic market for low-cost clean hydrogen. The Department predicts that, as a result, the hubs will produce approximately three million tons of clean hydrogen annually.

To produce this hydrogen, the US will use approximately 111 TWh of electrical energy. With the current level of electrolysis efficiency, this will result in approximately 24 TWh of excess heat. If connected to district energy systems, this heat could be captured and reused. In fact, Danfoss analysis shows that this could be enough to provide heat to 1.7 million American homes per year, strengthening the case for investing in district energy systems.

With green hydrogen production requiring immense amounts of electricity, energy efficiency in its production is vital to its sustainability. While current green hydrogen conversion processes incur an energy loss of approximately 30%, existing technology can minimise this loss. For instance, efficient converters converting alternating current (AC) to direct current (DC) for electrolysers can increase overall production efficiency by roughly 1%. Though seemingly small, a saving of 1% of the electricity demand in 2050 for hydrogen is enough to power London for almost four years.

Producing hydrogen in an efficient and cost-effective manner is essential for hydrogen use to be feasible, as is reducing costs and stress on electricity grids by producing hydrogen when there is excess (and cheap) renewable energy in the grid. Using hydrogen wisely is also critical; the electrolysis process used to produce green hydrogen is energy-intensive and as a result, hydrogen will continue to be a scarce and expensive resource.

But hydrogen can also help manage seasonal electricity demand. Concern over grid stability has increased interest in energy storage. Batteries are an effective short-term storage option, not as effective over the long term due to cost and capacity depletion over time. Green hydrogen, however, can hold large amounts of energy, by converting low-emissions electricity into hydrogen, with only a very little energy loss over time at a low cost per MWh.

When implementing solutions to reduce carbon emissions, energy efficiency, and electrification need to come first. While green hydrogen can open doors for the transition to a green economy, focus should remain on direct electrification of as many elements of our energy systems as possible. But for hard-to-abate sectors, where electrification is not yet possible, green hydrogen provides a means to lower emissions and indirectly electrify operations. For example, while automotive transportation has a clear path to electrify, the aviation sector is expected to depend on hydrogen converted into a sustainable aviation fuel.

“Green hydrogen undoubtedly has an important role to play in the transition away from fossil fuels, especially for hard-to-abate sectors such as aviation, shipping and heavy industry,” said Rick Sporrer, President of Danfoss North America. “However, energy efficiency and renewable energy sources should be our first option. The potential of hydrogen and excess heat reuse can be a key to America’s energy independence and energy security.”

For more news and technical articles from the global renewable industry, read the latest issue of Energy Global magazine.

Energy Global's Spring 2024 issue

The Spring 2024 issue of Energy Global starts with a guest comment from Field on how battery storage sites can serve as a viable solution to curtailed energy, before moving on to a regional report from Théodore Reed-Martin, Editorial Assistant, Energy Global, looking at the state of renewables in Europe. This issue also hosts an array of technical articles on electrical infrastructure, turbine and blade monitoring, battery storage technology, coatings, and more.

Read the article online at: https://www.energyglobal.com/other-renewables/06062024/new-analysis-reveals-the-potential-of-green-hydrogen/