Policy & Socio-Economics

Hydrogen is a key cornerstone of the green transformation of the global economy and a major lever to diversify energy supplies and accelerate the clean energy transition. Hydrogen will be essential to replace natural gas coal and oil in hard-to-decarbonise sectors in industry mobility and energy. Hydrogen Valleys will become an important cornerstone in producing importing transporting and using clean hydrogen in Europe.

This paper presents a day-ahead economic optimization scheduling model for Regional Electricity–Hydrogen Integrated Energy System (REHIES) with high penetration of renewable energies. The electricity–hydrogen coupling devices are modelled with energy storage units and Insensitive Electrical Load (ISEL). The proposed objective function is able to capture the maximum benefits for REHIES in terms of economic benefits and can be summarized as a Quadratic Programming (QP) problem. The simulation verification is performed by MATLAB/CPLEX solver. The simulation results show that the proposed optimization model adapts the market requirement by contributing flexible collaboration between electricity and hydrogen. Also the translational properties of ISEL can implement higher economic profits and more effective utilization of renewable energy.

Hydrogen will be a central cross-sectoral energy carrier in the decarbonization of the European energy system. This paper investigates how a large-scale deployment of green hydrogen production affects the investments in transmission and generation towards 2060 analyzes the North Sea area with the main offshore wind projects and assesses the development of an offshore energy hub. Results indicate that the hydrogen deployment has a tremendous impact on the grid development in Europe and in the North Sea. Findings indicate that total power generation capacity increases around 50%. The offshore energy hub acts mainly as a power transmission asset leads to a reduction in total generation capacity and is central to unlock the offshore wind potential in the North Sea. The effect of hydrogen deployment on power prices is multifaceted. In regions where power prices have typically been lower than elsewhere in Europe it is observed that hydrogen increases the power price considerably. However as hydrogen flexibility relieves stress in high-demand periods for the grid power prices decrease in average for some countries. This suggests that while the deployment of green hydrogen will lead to a significant increase in power demand power prices will not necessarily experience a large increase.

Hydrogen is widely considered to play a pivotal role in successfully transforming the German energy system but the German government’s current “National Hydrogen Strategy” does not specify how hydrogen utilization production storage or distribution will be implemented. Addressing key uncertainties for the German energy system’s path to greenhouse gas-neutrality this paper examines hydrogen in different scenarios. This analysis aims to support the concretization of the German hydrogen strategy. Applying a European energy supply model with strong interactions between the conversion sector and the hydrogen system the analysis focuses on the requirements for geological hydrogen storages and their utilization over the course of a year the positioning of electrolyzers within Germany and the contributions of hydrogen transport networks to balancing supply and demand. Regarding seasonal hydrogen storages the results show that hydrogen storage facilities in the range of 42 TWhH2 to 104 TWhH2 are beneficial to shift high electricity generation volumes from onshore wind in spring and fall to winter periods with lower renewable supply and increased electricity and heat demands. In 2050 the scenario results show electrolyzer capacities between 41 GWel and 75 GWel in Germany. Electrolyzer sites were found to follow the low-cost renewable energy potential and are concentrated on the North Sea and Baltic Sea coasts with their high wind yields. With respect to a hydrogen transport infrastructure there were two robust findings: One a domestic German hydrogen transport network connecting electrolytic hydrogen production sites in northern Germany with hydrogen demand hubs in western and southern Germany is economically efficient. Two connecting Germany to a European hydrogen transport network with interconnection capacities between 18 GWH2 and 58 GWH2 is cost-efficient to meet Germany’s substantial hydrogen demand.

The study proposes a comprehensive framework to support the development of green hydrogen production including the establishment of legal and regulatory frameworks investment incentives and public-private partnerships. Using official and public data from government agencies the potential of renewable energy sources is studied and some reasonable assumptions are made so that a full study and evaluation of hydrogen production in the country can be done. The information here proves beyond a doubt that renewable energy makes a big difference in making green hydrogen. This makes the country a leader in the field of making green hydrogen. Based on what it found this research suggests a way for the country to have a green hydrogen economy by 2050. It is done in three steps: using green hydrogen as a fuel for industry using green hydrogen in fuel cells and selling hydrogen. On the other hand the research found that making green hydrogen that can be used in Iraq and other developing countries is hard. There are technological economic and social problems as well as policy consequences that need to be solved.

Humankind has an urgent need to reduce carbon dioxide emissions. Such a challenge requires deep transformation of the current energy system in our society. Achieving this goal has given an unprecedented role to decarbonized energy vectors. Electricity is the most consolidated of such vectors and a molecular vector is in the agenda to contribute in the future to those end uses that are difficult to electrify. Additionally energy storage is a critical issue for both energy vectors. In this communication discussion on the status hopes and perspectives of the hydrogen contribution to decarbonization are presented emphasizing bottlenecks in key aspects such as education reskilling and storage capacity and some concerns about the development of a flexible portfolio of technologies that could affect the contribution and impact of the whole hydrogen value chain in society. This communication would serve to the debate and boost discussion about the topic.

Hydrogen is an energy carrier in which hopes are placed for an easier achievement of climate neutrality. Together with electrification energy efficiency development and RES hydrogen is expected to enable the ambitious energy goals of the European Green Deal. Hence the aim of the article is to query the development of the hydrogen economy in the Visegrad Group countries (V4). The study considers six diagnostic features: sources of hydrogen production hydrogen legislation financial mechanisms objectives included in the hydrogen strategy environmental impact of H2 and costs of green hydrogen investments. The analysis also allowed to indicate the role that hydrogen will play in the energy transition process of the V4 countries. The analysis shows that the V4 countries have similar approaches to the development of the hydrogen market but the hydrogen strategies published by each of the Visegrad countries are not the same. Each document sets goals based on the hydrogen production to date and the specifics of the domestic energy and transport sectors as there are no solutions that are equally effective for all. Poland’s hydrogen strategy definitely stands out the strongest.

This article presents findings from a representative survey fielded through the Norwegian Citizen Panel examining public perceptions of hydrogen fuel and its different production methods. Although several countries including Norway have strategies to increase the production of hydrogen fuel our results indicate that hydrogen as an energy carrier and its different production methods are still unknown to a large part of the public. A common misunderstanding seems to be confusing ‘hydrogen fuel’ in general with environmentally friendly ‘green hydrogen’. Results from a survey experiment (N = 1906) show that production method is important for public acceptance. On a five-point acceptance scale respondents score on average 3.9 for ‘green’ hydrogen which is produced from renewable energy sources. The level of acceptance is significantly lower for ‘blue’ (3.2) and ‘grey’ (2.3) hydrogen when respondents are informed that these are produced from coal oil or natural gas. Public support for hydrogen fuel in general as well as the different production methods is also related to their level of worry about climate change gender and political affiliation. Widespread misunderstandings regarding ‘green’ hydrogen production could potentially fuel public resistance as new ‘blue’ or ‘grey’ projects develop. Our results indicate a need for clearer communication from the government and developers regarding production methods to avoid distrust and potential public backfire.

Background: The widespread use of sustainable energy technologies is a key element in the transformation of the energy system from fossil-based to zero-carbon. In line with this technology acceptance is of great importance as resistance from the public can slow down or hinder the construction of energy technology projects. The current study assesses the social acceptance of three energy technologies relevant for the German energy transition: stationary battery storage biofuel production plants and hydrogen fuel station. Methods: An online survey was conducted to examine the public’s general and local acceptance of energy technologies. Explored factors included general and local acceptance public concerns trust in relevant stakeholders and attitudes towards financial support. Results: The results indicate that general acceptance for all technologies is slightly higher than local acceptance. In addition we discuss which public concerns exist with regard to the respective technologies and how they are more strongly associated with local than general acceptance. Further we show that trust in stakeholders and attitudes towards fnancial support is relatively high across the technologies discussed. Conclusions: Taken together the study provides evidence for the existence of a “general–local” gap despite measuring general and local acceptance at the same level of specifcity using a public sample. In addition the collected data can provide stakeholders with an overview of worries that might need to be addressed when planning to implement a certain energy project.

Although hydrogen has been used in industry for many years as a chemical commodity its use as a fuel or energy carrier is relatively new and expert knowledge about its associated risks is neither complete nor consensual. Public awareness of hydrogen energy and attitudes towards a future hydrogen economy are yet to be systematically investigated. This paper opens by discussing alternative conceptualisations of risk then focuses on issues surrounding the use of emerging technologies based on hydrogen energy. It summarises expert assessments of risks associated with hydrogen. It goes on to review debates about public perceptions of risk and in doing so makes comparisons with public perceptions of other emergent technologies—Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) Genetically Modified Organisms and Food (GM) and Nanotechnology (NT)—for which there is considerable scientific uncertainty and relatively little public awareness. The paper finally examines arguments about public engagement and "upstream" consultation in the development of new technologies. It is argued that scientific and technological uncertainties are perceived in varying ways and different stakeholders and different publics focus on different aspects or types of risk. Attempting to move public consultation further "upstream" may not avoid this because the framing of risks and benefits is necessarily embedded in a cultural and ideological context and is subject to change as experience of the emergent technology unfolds.