Policy & Socio-Economics

The utilization of hydrogen energy is important for achieving a low-carbon society. Japan has set ambitious goals for hydrogen stations and fuel cell vehicles focusing on the introduction and dissemination of self-refuelling systems. This paper evaluates public trust in the fuel equipment and self-handling technology related to self-refuelling hydrogen stations and compares it with that for widespread gasoline stations. To this end the results of an online survey of 300 people with Japanese driver licenses are reported and analyzed. The results show that trust in the equipment and self-handling is more important for the user than trust in the fuel. In addition to introduce and disseminate new technology such as hydrogen stations users must be made aware of the risk of using the technology until it becomes as familiar as existing gasoline station technology.

Polygeneration energy systems (PES) have the potential to provide a flexible high-efficiency and low-emissions alternative for power generation and chemical synthesis from fossil fuels. This study aims to assess the economic value of fossil-fuel PES which rely on hydrogen as an intermediate product. Our analysis focuses on a representative PES configuration that uses coal as the primary energy input and produces electricity and fertilizer as end-products. We derive a series of propositions that assess the cost competitiveness of the modeled PES under both static and flexible operation modes. The result is a set of metrics that quantify the levelized cost of hydrogen the unit profit-margin of PES and the real option values of ‘diversification’ and ‘flexibility’ embedded in PES. These metrics are subsequently applied to assess the economics of Hydrogen Energy California (HECA) a PES currently under development in California. Under our technical and economic assumptions HECA’s levelized cost of hydrogen is estimated at 1.373 $/kgh. The profitability of HECA as a static PES increases in the share of hydrogen converted to fertilizer rather than electricity. However when configured as a flexible PES HECA almost breaks even on a pre-tax basis. Diversification and flexibility are valuable for HECA when polygeneration is compared to static monogeneration of electricity but these two real options have no value when comparing polygeneration to static monogeneration of fertilizers.

This paper compares the well-to-wheel (WTW) greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions of representative vehicle types–internal combustion engine vehicle (ICEV) hybrid electric vehicle (HEV) plug-in hybrid electric vehicle (PHEV) battery electric vehicle (BEV) and fuel cell electric vehicle (FCEV)–in the future (2030) based on a WTW analysis for the present (2017) and an analysis of various energy policies that could affect future emissions. South Korea was selected as the target region because it has detailed energy policies related to alternative vehicles. The WTW analysis for the present was performed based on three sets of subordinate analyses: (1) life cycle analyses of eight base fuels; (2) life cycle analyses of electricity and hydrogen; and (3) analyses of the fuel economies of seven vehicle types. From the WTW analysis for the present the national average WTW GHG emissions of ICEV-gasoline ICEV-diesel ICEV-liquefied petroleum gas HEV PHEV BEV and FCEV were calculated as 225 233 201 159 133 109 and 55 g-CO₂-eq./km respectively. For calculating the WTW GHG emissions in the future two policies regarding electricity production and three policies regarding hydrogen production were analysed. Three cases with varying the degrees of improvements in fuel economies were considered. Six future scenarios were constructed and each scenario represented the case in which each energy policy is enacted. In the reference scenario for compact car the WTW GHG emissions of ICEVs-gasoline HEV PHEV BEV-200 mile FCEV were analysed as 161 110 97 86 and 91 g-CO₂-eq./km respectively. The differences between ICEV/HEV and BEV were predicted to decrease in the future mainly due to larger improvements of ICEV/HEV in fuel economies compared to that of BEV. The future life cycle GHG emissions of electricity and hydrogen were calculated according to energy policy. Both two policies regarding power generation were confirmed to increase the benefits of utilizing BEVs but current energy policy regarding hydrogen production were confirmed to decrease the benefits of utilizing FCEVs. Based on the comprehensive results of this study a framework was proposed to evaluate the impacts of an energy policy regarding electricity and hydrogen production on the benefits of using BEVs and FCEVs compared to using HEVs and ICEVs. This framework can also be utilized in other countries when they assess and establish their energy policies.

Comprehensive risk assessment across multiple fields is required to assess the potential utility of hydrogen energy technology. In this research we analyzed environmental and socio-economic effects during the entire life cycle of a hydrogen energy system using input-output tables. The target system included hydrogen production by naphtha reforming transportation to hydrogen stations and FCV (Fuel Cell Vehicle) refilling. The results indicated that 31% 44% and 9% of the production employment and greenhouse gas (GHG) emission effects respectively during the manufacturing and construction stages were temporary. During the continuous operation and maintenance stages these values were found to be 69% 56% and 91% respectively. The effect of naphtha reforming was dominant in GHG emissions and the effect of electrical power input on the entire system was significant. Production and employment had notable effects in both the direct and indirect sectors including manufacturing (pumps compressors and chemical machinery) and services (equipment maintenance and trade). This study used data to introduce a life cycle perspective to environmental and socio-economic analysis of hydrogen energy systems and the results will contribute to their comprehensive risk assessment in the future.

Achieving climate-neutrality requires considerable investment in energy storage systems (ESS) to integrate variable renewable energy sources into the grid. However investments into ESS are often unprofitable in particular for grid-scale battery storage and green hydrogen technologies prompting many actors to call for policy intervention. This study investigates investor-specific risk-return preferences for ESS investment and derives policy recommendations. Insights are drawn from 1605 experimental investment-related decisions obtained from 42 high-level institutional investors and utility representatives. Results reveal that both investor groups view revenue stacking as key to making ESS investment viable. While the expected return on investment is the most important project characteristic risk-return preferences for other features diverge between groups. Institutional investors appear more open to exploring new technological ventures (20% of utility respondents would not consider making investments into solar photovoltaic-hydrogen) whereas utilities seem to prefer greenfield projects (23% of surveyed institutional investors rejected such projects). Interestingly both groups show strong aversion towards energy market price risk. Institutional investors require a premium of 6.87 percentage points and utilities 5.54 percentage points for moving from a position of fully hedged against market price risk to a scenario where only 20% of revenue is fixed underlining the need for policy support.

The advocacy narrative of the European Union gas community which focused on coal to gas switching and backing up renewables has failed to convince governments NGOs and media commentators that it can achieve post-2030 decarbonisation targets. The gas community therefore needs to develop decarbonisation narratives showing how it will develop commercial scale projects for biogas biomethane and hydrogen from power to gas (electrolysis) and reformed methane. COP21 carbon targets require an accelerating decline in EU methane demand starting around 2030. In 2050 the maximum projected availability of renewable gas is equivalent to 25 per cent of current EU gas demand. Maintaining current demand levels will therefore require very substantial volumes of hydrogen from reformed methane with carbon capture and storage (CCS). Pipeline gas and LNG suppliers will need to progressively decarbonise their product if it is to remain saleable in Europe. However networks face an existential threat unless they can maintain existing throughput while simultaneously adapting to a decarbonised product. Significant threats and challenges to these narratives include: short term geopolitical concerns stemming from dependence on Russian gas ‘hydrocarbon rejectionism’ and an inability of companies to invest for a post-2030 decarbonised future. Governments will need to shift current policy and regulatory frameworks from competition to decarbonisation which will require a ‘regulatory revolution’. In addition to government funding and regulatory support there will need to be very substantial corporate investment in projects for which there is currently no business case. Failure of the gas community to create and deliver credible decarbonisation narratives is likely to result in the adoption of electrification rather than gas decarbonisation options.

New technological solutions are required to control the impact of the increasing presence of renewable energy sources connected to the electric grid that are characterized by unpredictable production (i.e. wind and solar energy). Energy storage is becoming essential to stabilize the grid when a mismatch between production and demand occurs. Among the available solutions Power to Hydrogen (P2H) is one of the most attractive options. However despite the potential many barriers currently hinder P2H market development. The literature reports general barriers and strategies to overcome them but a specific analysis is fundamental to identifying how these barriers concretely arise in national and regional frameworks since tailored solutions are needed to foster the development of P2H local market. The paper aims to identify and to analyze the existing barriers for P2H market uptake in Italy. The paper shows how several technical regulatory and economic issues are still unsolved resulting in a source of uncertainty for P2H investment. The paper also suggests possible approaches and solutions to address the Italian barriers and to support politics and decision-makers in the definition and implementation of the national hydrogen strategy.

For many a large-scale hydrogen economy is essential to a a clean energy future with three quarters of the more than 1100 senior energy professionals we surveyed saying Paris Agreement targets will not be possible without it.

DNV’s research Rising to the challenge of a hydrogen economy explores the outlook for emerging hydrogen value chains from production to consumption. It combines the wider view from the energy industry with commentary from business leaders and experts. Our research finds that the challenge is not in the ambition but in changing the timeline: from hydrogen on the horizon to hydrogen in our homes businesses and transport systems.

We see that the energy industry is rising to this challenge. By 2025 almost half (44%) of energy companies globally involved in hydrogen expect it to account for more than a tenth of their revenue rising to 73% of companies by 2030 – up significantly from just 8% of companies today. The research identifies infrastructure and cost as two of the biggest hurdles while the right regulations are deemed the most powerful enabler followed by carbon pricing. Proving the safety case will also be key to scaling the hydrogen economy.

Download your complimentary copy of DNV’s latest hydrogen research at their website link

These two joint reports required under the Environment (Wales) Act 2016 provide ministers with advice on Wales’ climate targets between now and 2050 and assess progress on reducing emissions to date. Our advice to the Welsh Government is set out in two parts:

Advice Report: The path to a Net Zero Wales provides recommendations on the actions that are needed in Wales including the legislation of a Net Zero target and package of policies to deliver it.

Progress Report: Reducing emissions in Wales looks back at the progress made in Wales since the 2016 Environment (Wales) Act was passed and assesses whether Wales is on track to meet its currently legislated emissions reductions targets.

This work is based on an extensive programme of analysis consultation and consideration by the Committee and its staff building on the evidence published last year for our Net Zero report. It is compatible with our advice on the UK’s Sixth Carbon Budget. In support of the advice in this report we have also published:

• All the charts and data behind the report as well as a separate dataset for the scenarios which sets out more details and data on the pathways than can be included in this report.
• A public Call for Evidence several new research projects three expert advisory groups and deep dives into the roles of local authorities and businesses.

Interest in hydrogen as one route to the decarbonisation of energy systems has risen rapidly over the past few years with the publication of a number of hydrogen strategies from countries across the global energy economy. The momentum in Europe has increased sharply this month with the publication of an EU strategy to incorporate hydrogen into its plans for a net zero emission future. This Comment reviews the key elements of this strategy and provides an initial commentary on the main goals. We highlight the challenges that will be faced in meeting hydrogen production targets in particular via the “green hydrogen” route and analyse the plans for expanding the consumption of hydrogen in Europe. We also assess the infrastructure questions that will need to be answered if and when hydrogen takes on a greater role in the region and note the extensive state support that will be needed in the early years of the implementation of the strategy. Despite this though we applaud the ambition laid out by the EU and look forward to the provision of more detailed plans over the coming months and years.

Link to document on OIES website

Hydrogen has seen unprecedented development in the year 2020. From innovative niche technology it is fast becoming a systemic element in the European Union’s (EU) efforts to transition to a climate-neutral society in 2050. It will become a crucial energy vector and the other leg of the energy transition – alongside renewable electricity – by replacing coal oil and gas across different segments of the economy. The rapid development of hydrogen is important for meeting the EU’s climate objectives and preserving and enhancing the EU’s industrial and economic competitiveness securing jobs and value creation in this high-tech sector.

Europe is currently leading in hydrogen technology and European companies and knowledge institutions can be instrumental in advancing technological developments and industrial scale-up. It is imperative that Europe maintains this leadership position and seizes the current momentum for hydrogen technologies. The EU is well placed to become the birthplace of a global hydrogen economy denominated in Euro currency.

It is time that hydrogen moves from an afterthought to a central pillar of the energy system. The “Fit for 55 Package” presents a unique opportunity to begin putting into place a concrete and fit for purpose framework for the development of a clean hydrogen economy. In this paper you will find Hydrogen Europe’s recommendations on how hydrogen can:

• Unleash the potential of renewables.
• Bring “efficiency” to the energy “system” of the future.
• Enable a carbon-neutral transport system.

To limit the global temperature change to no more than 2 ◦C by reducing global emissions the European Union (EU) set up a goal of a 20% improvement on energy efficiency a 20% cut of greenhouse gas emissions and a 20% share of energy from renewable sources by 2020 (10% share of renewable energy (RE) specifically in the transport sector). By 2030 the goal is a 27% improvement in energy efficiency a 40% cut of greenhouse gas emissions and a 27% share of RE. However the integration of RE in energy system faces multiple challenges. The geographical distribution of energy supply changes significantly the availability of the primary energy source (wind solar water) and is the determining factor rather than where the consumers are. This leads to an increasing demand to match supply and demand for power. Especially intermittent RE like wind and solar power face the issue of energy production unrelated to demand (issue of excess energy production beyond demand and/or grid capacity) and forecast errors leading to an increasing demand for grid services like balancing power. Megawatt electrolyzer units (beyond 3 MW) can provide a technical solution to convert large amounts of excess electricity into hydrogen for industrial applications substitute for natural gas or the decarbonization of the mobility sector. The demonstration of successful MW electrolyzer operation providing grid services under dynamic conditions as request by the grid can broaden the opportunities of new business models that demonstrate the profitability of an electrolyzer in these market conditions. The aim of this work is the demonstration of a technical solution utilizing Pressurized Alkaline Electrolyzer (PAE) technology for providing grid balancing services and harvesting Renewable Energy Sources (RES) under realistic circumstances. In order to identify any differences between local market and grid requirements the work focused on a demonstration site located in Austria deemed as a viable business case for the operation of a largescale electrolyzer. The site is adapted to specific local conditions commonly found throughout Europe. To achieve this this study uses a market-based solution that aims at providing value-adding services and cash inflows stemming from the grid balancing services it provides. Moreover the work assesses the viability of various business cases by analyzing (qualitatively and quantitatively) additional business models (in terms of business opportunities/energy source potential grid service provision and hydrogen demand) and analyzing the value and size of the markets developing recommendations for relevant stakeholder to decrease market barriers.

Sustainability transportation is characterized by a positive externality on the environment health social security land use and social inclusion. The increasing interest in global warming has caused attention to be paid to the introduction of the hydrogen bus (H2B). When introducing new environmental technologies such as H2B it is often necessary to assess the environmental benefits related to this new technology. However such benefits are typically non-priced due to their public good nature. Therefore we have to address this problem using the contingent valuation (CV) method. This method has been developed within environmental economics as a means to economically assess environmental changes which are typically not traded in the market. So far several big cities have been analyzed to evaluate the perceived benefit related to H2B introduction but to the best of our knowledge no one has performed a CV analysis of a historical city where smog also damages historical buildings. This paper presents the results obtained using a multi-wave survey. We have investigated user preferences to elicit their willingness to pay for H2B introduction in Perugia taking into account all types of negative externalities due to the traffic pollution. The results confirm that residents in Perugia are willing to pay extra to support the introduction of H2B.

This Energy Insight examines the current regulatory framework and challenges facing the natural gas industry (producers transporters suppliers and consumers) during the transition to a zero-carbon economy.  The EU has declared its intention to be climate neutral by 2050 which means that the current level of natural gas usage will no longer be possible. However natural gas is a crucial component of energy supply representing 24 per cent of primary energy supply for the EU27+UK and 36 per cent of residential energy consumption. In some countries the use of natural gas is much higher – around 40 per cent of primary energy supply in Netherlands UK and Italy. The current framework impacting gas addresses two different market failures – natural monopolies for gas transportation and the externalities of Greenhouse Gas Emissions. The framework will not deliver decarbonisation of gas as it does not stimulate either supply or demand for alternatives such as hydrogen nor create the conditions to enable gas networks to transition to a decarbonised future. Policy makers need to prioritise their objectives to take account of the trade-offs involved in designing a new framework. Exclusion of certain low carbon technologies risks driving away investors and reduces the chances of targets being met whilst “picking winners” involves risks because of the many uncertainties involved such as future costs and time required to build new value chains.

Link to Document on Oxford Institute for Energy Studies website

Hydrogen can be used for a variety of domestic and industrial purposes such as heating and cooking (as a replacement for natural gas) transportation (replacing petrol and diesel) and energy storage (by converting intermittent renewable energy into hydrogen). The key benefit of using hydrogen is that it is a clean fuel that emits only water vapour and heat when combusted.



To support implementation of the National Hydrogen Strategy Geoscience Australia in collaboration with Monash University are releasing the Hydrogen Economic Fairways Tool (HEFT).  HEFT is a free online tool designed to support decision making by policymakers and investors on the location of new infrastructure and development of hydrogen hubs in Australia. It considers both hydrogen produced from renewable energy and from fossil fuels with carbon capture and storage.



This seminar demonstrates HEFT’s capabilities its potential to attract worldwide investment into Australia’s hydrogen industry and what’s up next for hydrogen at Geoscience Australia.



You can use the Hydrogen Economic Fairways Tool (HEFT) on the Website of the Australian government at the link here

Hydrogen produced from renewables works as an energy carrier and as energy storage medium and thus hydrogen can help to overcome the intermittency of typical renewable energy sources. However there is no comprehensive environmental performance study of hydrogen production and consumption. In this study detailed cradle to grave life cycle analyses are performed in an isolated territory. The hydrogen is produced on-site by Polymer Electrolyte Membrane (PEM) water electrolysis based on electricity from wind turbines that would otherwise have been curtailed and subsequently transported with gas cylinder by road and ferry. The hydrogen is used to provide electricity and heat through fuel cell stacks as well as hydrogen fuel for fuel cell vehicles. In order to evaluate the environmental impacts related to the hydrogen production and utilisation this work conducts an investigation of the entire life cycle of the described hydrogen production transportation and utilisation. All the processes related to the equipment manufacture operation maintenance and disposal are considered in this study.

Outline

This independent report by Vivid Economics and University College London was commissioned to support the Climate Change Committee’s (CCC) 2020 report The Sixth Carbon Budget -The path to Net Zero. This research provided supporting information for Chapter 7 of the CCC’s report which considered the UK’s contribution to the global goals of the Paris Agreement.

Key recommendations

The report models ‘leadership-driven’ global scenarios that could reduce global emissions rapidly to Net Zero and analyses the levers available to developed countries such as the UK to help accelerate various key aspects of the required global transition.

It highlights a set of opportunities for the UK alongside other developed countries to help assist global decarbonisation efforts alongside achieving it’s domestic emissions reduction targets

This study seeks to find the appropriate strategies necessary to make sustainable and effective hydrogen energy investments. Within this scope nine different criteria are defined regarding social managerial and financial factors. A hesitant interval-valued intuitionistic fuzzy (IVIF) decision-making trial and evaluation laboratory (DEMATEL) methodology is considered to calculate the degree of importance of the criteria. Additionally impact relation maps are also generated to visualize the causality relationship between the factors. The findings indicate that the technical dimension has the greatest importance in comparison to managerial and financial factors. Furthermore it is also concluded that storage and logistics research and development and technological infrastructure are the most significant factors to be considered when defining hydrogen energy investment strategies. Hence before investing in hydrogen energy necessary actions should be taken to minimize the storage and logistic costs. Among them building the production site close to the usage area will contribute significantly to this purpose. In this way possible losses during the transportation of hydrogen can be minimized. Moreover it is essential to identify the lowest-cost hydrogen storage method by carrying out the necessary research and development activities thereby increasing the sustainability and effectiveness of hydrogen energy investment projects.

The present work investigates Power-to-Gas (PtG) options for variable Renewable Electricity storage into hydrogen through low temperature (alkaline and PEM) and high-temperature (SOEC) water electrolysis technologies. The study provides the assessment of the cost of the final product when hydrogen is employed for mobility (on-site refueling stations) electricity generation (by fuel cells in Power-to-Power systems) and grid injection in the natural gas network. Costs estimations are performed for 2013-2030 scenarios. A case study on the impact of variable Renewable Electricity storage by hydrogen generation on the Italian electricity and mobility sectors is presented.

Of all the sectors in the UK decarbonising heat remains one of the most challenging. Heat used for industrial domestic and commercial purposes generates around a third of all UK carbon emissions 70% of which is due to burning natural gas. In order to meet our legally binding national climate change targets unabated natural gas use for heat must be phased out. Low carbon gas - including hydrogen and biogases - is one option to replace it. The Future Gas Series examines the opportunities and challenges associated with using low carbon gas to help decarbonise the UK economy.<br/><br/>This is the second report in the three-part Future Gas Series. Part 1: Next Steps for the Gas Grid explored the potential to decarbonise the existing gas grid. The report Part 2: the Production of Low Carbon Gas focuses on the issues related to the production of low carbon gas. It considers the different production technologies the potential scale of deployment of each method and the potential feedstocks. It also discusses issues related to bulk transport and storage of gas. Put together from expert evidence from across industry and academia it provides a balanced guide for policy makers in this area. It was a co-chaired by James Heappey MP (Conservative) Alan Whitehead MP (Labour) and Alistair Carmichael MP (SNP).<br/><br/>Carbon Connect suggests that biogases- such as biomethane and bioSNG- provide low regrets opportunities in the near term to provide low carbon heat and could also potentially make use of waste that would otherwise go to landfill.  However they require further support to allow them to continue contributing to decarbonising the UK economy. Hydrogen could provide huge decarbonisation opportunities and has applications across the energy system from putting hydrogen in the gas grid to be burnt for heat in homes to hydrogen buses and trains. However to realise this potential a market for hydrogen must be built up. This should incentivise business to invest in hydrogen technologies reward those who use hydrogen and build up hydrogen infrastructure.<br/><br/>

Hydrogen is fast becoming a new international “super fuel” to accelerate global climate change ambitions. This paper has two inter-weaving themes. Contextually it focuses on the potential impact of the EU’s new Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) on fossil fuel-generated as opposed to green hydrogen imports. The CBAM as a transnational carbon adjustment mechanism has the potential to impact international trade in energy. It seeks both a level playing field between imports and EU internal markets (subject to ambitious EU climate change policies) and to encourage emissions reduction laggards through its “carbon diplomacy”. Countries without a price on carbon will be charged for embodied carbon in their supply chains when they export to the EU. Empirically we focus on two hydrogen export/import case studies: Australia as a non-EU state with ambitions to export hydrogen and Germany as an EU Member State reliant on energy imports. Energy security is central to energy trade debates but needs to be conceptualized beyond supply and demand economics to include geopolitics just transitions and the impacts of border carbon taxes and EU carbon diplomacy. Accordingly we apply and further develop a seven-dimension energy security-justice framework to the examples of brown blue and green hydrogen export/import hydrogen operations with varying carbon-intensity supply chains in Australia and Germany. Applying the framework we identify potential impact—risks and opportunities—associated with identified brown blue and green hydrogen export/import projects in the two countries. This research contributes to the emerging fields of international hydrogen trade supply chains and international carbon diplomacy and develops a potentially useful seven-dimension energy security-justice framework for energy researchers and policy analysts.

Global climate change concerns have pushed international governmental actions to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by adopting cleaner technologies hoping to transition to a more sustainable society. The hydrogen economy is one potential long-term option for enabling deep decarbonization for the future energy landscape. Progress towards an operating hydrogen economy is discouragingly slow despite global efforts to accelerate it. There are major mismatches between the present situation surrounding the hydrogen economy and previous proposed milestones that are far from being reached. The overall aim of this study is to understand whether there has been significant real progress in the achievement of a hydrogen economy or whether the current interest is overly exaggerated (hype). This study uses bibliometric analysis and content analysis to historically map the hydrogen economy’s development from 1972 to 2020 by quantifying and analyzing three sets of interconnected data. Findings indicate that interest in the hydrogen economy has significantly progressed over the past five decades based on the growing numbers of academic publications media coverage and projects. However various endogenous and exogenous factors have influenced the development of the hydrogen economy and created hype at different points in time. The consolidated results explore the changing trends and how specific events or actors have influenced the development of the hydrogen economy with their agendas the emergence of hype cycles and the expectations of a future hydrogen economy.

The 21st century is characterized not only by large-scale transformations but also by the speed with which they occur. Transformations—political economic social technological environmental and legal-in synergy have always been a catalyst for reactions in society. The field of energy supply like many others is extremely susceptible to the external influence of such factors. To a large extent this applies to remote (especially from the position of energy supply) regions. The authors outline an approach to justifying the development of the Arctic energy infrastructure through an analysis of the demand for the amount of energy consumed and energy sources taking into account global trends. The methodology is based on scenario modeling of technological demand. It is based on a study of the specific needs of consumers available technologies and identified risks. The paper proposes development scenarios and presents a model that takes them into account. Modeling results show that in all scenarios up to 50% of the energy balance in 2035 will take gas but the role of carbon-free energy sources will increase. The mathematical model allowed forecasting the demand for energy types by certain types of consumers which makes it possible to determine the vector of development and stimulation of certain types of resources for energy production in the Arctic. The model enables considering not only the growth but also the decline in demand for certain types of consumers under different scenarios. In addition authors’ forecasts through further modernization of the energy sector in the Arctic region can contribute to the creation of prerequisites that will be stimulating and profitable for the growth of investment in sustainable energy sources to supply consumers. The scientific significance of the work lies in the application of a consistent hybrid modeling approach to forecasting demand for energy resources in the Arctic region. The results of the study are useful in drafting a scenario of regional development taking into account the Sustainable Development Goals as well as identifying areas of technology and energy infrastructure stimulation.

Renewable green fuels (RGF) such as hydrogen are the global energy future. Air pollution is compounded with climate change as the emissions driving both development problems come largely from the same source of fossil fuel burning. As an energy exporter Australian energy export dominates the total energy production and the RGF has become central to the current proposal of Australian government to reach net zero emission. The hydrogen production from solar panels only on 3% of Australia's land area could compensate 10 times of Germany's non-electricity energy consumption. In the unique geographic position Australia's RGF export attracts significant costs for long distance onboard storage and shipping. While the cost reduction of RGF production relies on technological advancement which needs a long time the storage and shipping costs must be minimised for Australia to remain competitive in the global energy market. The present review concentrates on Australian export pathways of lifecycles of liquid renewable green fuels including renewable liquified hydrogen (LH2) liquified methane (LCH4) ammonia (NH3) and methanol (CH3OH) as liquid RGF have the advantages of adopting the existing infrastructure. This review compares the advantages and disadvantages of discussed renewable energy carriers. It is found that the cost of LH2 pathway can be acceptable for shipping distance of up to 7000 km (Asian countries such as Japan) but ammonia (NH3) or methanol (CH3OH) pathways may be more cost effective for shipping distance above 7000 km for European counties such as Germany. These observations suggest the proper fuel forms to fulfill the requirements to different customers and hence will highlight Australia's position as one of major exporters of renewable energy in the future. Detailed techno-economic analysis is worth to be done for supplying more quantitative results.

This edition of the Global Gas Report covers two very turbulent years in the global gas industry and the wider global energy markets. The Covid-19 pandemic lockdowns with a brief period of excess supply and low prices gave way to tight energy markets extreme price volatility and a compounding geopolitical challenge to energy security. At the time of writing the ongoing Russia-Ukraine conflict has been affecting the flows of gas and has put Europe on a quest to diversify its energy and gas supply that is now opening a new paradigm in the energy industry. This report comes at a time when the situation for global commodity and gas markets is in a state of rapid change and the strategic path forwards for the gas industry and energy policy-makers is continually developing. One thing is clear this is a critical and decisive moment for the gas industry. How it navigates the way through this crisis and charts a path forward will shape its long-term success and the role that it will play in the energy transition and beyond. This is the moment for the gas industry to demonstrate that gas can deliver a sustainable and secure energy future for all and that natural gas and a portfolio of decarbonized low- and zero-carbon gases are key to an achievable energy transition. This year’s report assesses key gas market trends from 2020 and 2021 including Covid-19 outcomes tightness of supply price volatility investments and the upward reversal in the global emissions trend. It then turns to the main topic on the global energy agenda – security – and considers key variables impacting it from industry and policy perspectives as well as considering possible paths to reinforce it. Finally the report looks at the main decarbonization pathways for gas supply as they progressively develop to make gas itself a low or zero-carbon fuel for the future. This report seeks to deliver insights about the global gas sector and to inform its stakeholders partners and importantly global decision-makers about the state of play today and possibilities for the future. It concludes with key insights on how sustainability security and competitiveness can help to deliver a sustainable future in line with the goals of the Paris Agreement and the UN Sustainable Development Agenda.

The flexible coupling of sectors in the energy system for example via battery electric vehicles electric heating or electric fuel production can contribute significantly to the integration of variable renewable electricity generation. For the implementation of the energy system transformation however there are numerous options for the design of sector coupling each of which is accompanied by different infrastructure requirements. This paper presents the extension of the REMix energy system modelling framework to include the gas sector and its application for investigating the cost-optimal design of sector coupling in Germany's energy system. Considering an integrated optimisation of all relevant technologies in their capacities and hourly use a path to a climate-neutral system in 2050 is analysed. We show that the different options for flexible sector coupling are all needed and perform different functions. Even though flexible electrolytic production of hydrogen takes on a very dominant role in 2050 it does not displace other technologies. Hydrogen also plays a central role in the seasonal balancing of generation and demand. Thus large-scale underground storage is part of the optimal system in addition to a hydrogen transport network. These results provide valuable guidance for the implementation of the energy system transformation in Germany.

The present paper dwells on the role of green hydrogen in the transition towards climateneutral economies and reviews the central challenges for its emancipation as an economically viable source of energy. The study shows that countries with a substantial share of renewables in the energy mix advanced natural gas pipeline infrastructure and an advanced level of technological and economic development have a comparative advantage for the wider utilization of hydrogen in their national energy systems. The central conclusion this review paper is that a green hydrogen rollout in the developed and oil-exporting developing and emerging countries is not a risk for the rest of the world in terms of the increasing technological disparities and conservation of underdevelopment and concomitant socio-economic problems of the Global South. The targets anchored in Paris Agreement but even more in the EU Green Deal and the European Hydrogen Strategy will necessitate a substantial rollout of RESs in developing countries and especially in the countries of the African Union because of the prioritization of the African continent within the energy cooperation frameworks of the EU Green Deal and the EU Hydrogen Strategy. Hence the green hydrogen rollout will bridge the energy transition between Europe and Africa on the one hand and climate and development targets on the other.

The aim of this paper is to analyze the factors affecting hydrogen and Carbon Capture and Storage Technologies (“CCS”) policies taking into consideration Fossil Fuel Consumption Oil Reserves the Debt/GDP Ratio the Trilemma Index and other variables with respect to OECD countries. STATA 17 was used for the analysis. The results confirm the hypothesis that countries with high fossil fuel consumption and oil reserves are investing in blue hydrogen and CCS towards a “zero-carbon-emission” perspective. Moreover countries with a good Debt/GDP ratio act most favorably to green policies by raising their Public Debt because Foreign Direct Investments are negatively correlated with those kinds of policies. Future research should exploit Green Finance policy decision criteria on green and blue hydrogen.

This study uses an online quasi-experiment with a national sample from Australia to evaluate public acceptance of hydrogen exports. It explores the complex communications environment that messaging about hydrogen exports is typically encountered in. We find that acceptance of green hydrogen exports is significantly higher than blue or brown hydrogen exports and acceptance of blue hydrogen exports higher than brown hydrogen exports. Additionally results show economic-framed benefit messages are associated with lesser public acceptance when encountered in communication contexts that outline differently-focused environmental downsides (competing contexts) but not same-focused economic downsides (conflicting contexts). In contrast environment-framed benefit messages are associated with lesser public acceptance when presented in communication contexts that outline same-focused environmental downsides (conflicting contexts) but not differentlyfocused economic downsides (competing contexts). Overall the study indicates message framing can impact acceptance of hydrogen exports and that organisations should consider the informational context within which their communications will be received.

Hydrogen will play a pivotal role in achieving an affordable clean and prosperous economy. Hydrogen allows for cost-efficient bulk transport and storage of renewable energy and can decarbonise energy use in all sectors.

The European Union together with North Africa Ukraine and other neighbouring countries have a unique opportunity to realise a green hydrogen system. Europe including Ukraine has good renewable energy resources while North Africa has outstanding and abundant resources. Europe can re-use its gas infrastructure with interconnections to North-Africa and other countries to transport and store hydrogen. And Europe has a globally leading industry for clean hydrogen production especially in electrolyser manufacturing.

If the European Union in close cooperation with its neighbouring countries wants to build on these unique assets and create a world leading industry for renewable hydrogen production the time to act is now. Dedicated and integrated multi GW green hydrogen production plants will thereby unlock the vast renewable energy potential.

We the European hydrogen industry are committed to maintaining a strong and world-leading electrolyser industry and market and to producing renewable hydrogen at equal and eventually lower cost than low-carbon (blue) hydrogen. A prerequisite is that a 2x40 GW electrolyser market in the European Union and its neighbouring countries (e.g. North Africa and Ukraine) will develop as soon as possible.

A roadmap for 40 GW electrolyser capacity in the EU by 2030 shows a 6 GW captive market (hydrogen production at the demand location) and 34 GW hydrogen market (hydrogen production near the resource). A roadmap for 40 GW electrolyser capacity in North Africa and Ukraine by 2030 includes 7.5 GW hydrogen production for the domestic market and a 32.5 GW hydrogen production capacity for export.

If a 2x40 GW electrolyser market in 2030 is realised alongside the required additional renewable energy capacity renewable hydrogen will become cost competitive with fossil (grey) hydrogen. GW-scale electrolysers at wind and solar hydrogen production sites will produce renewable hydrogen cost competitively with low-carbon hydrogen production (1.5-2.0 €/kg) in 2025 and with grey hydrogen (1.0-1.5 €/kg) in 2030.

By realizing 2x40 GW electrolyser capacity producing green hydrogen about 82 million ton CO₂  emissions per year could be avoided in the EU. The total investments in electrolyser capacity will be 25-30 billion Euro creating 140000- 170000 jobs in manufacturing and maintenance of 2x40 GW electrolysers.

The industry needs the European Union and its member states to design create and facilitate a hydrogen market infrastructure and economy. Crucial is the design and realisation of new unique and long-lasting mutual co-operation mechanisms on political societal and economic levels between the EU and North Africa Ukraine and other neighbouring countries.

The unique opportunity for the EU and its neighbouring countries to develop a green hydrogen economy will contribute to economic growth the creation of jobs and a sustainable affordable and fair energy system. Building on this position Europe and its neighbours can become world market leaders for green hydrogen production technologies.

<br/>Our industry is beginning its journey on the transition to providing the world with sufficient sustainable affordable and low emission energy.<br/><br/>Decarbonisation is now a key priority. Steps range from reducing emissions from traditional oil and gas operations to investing in renewable energy and supplementing natural gas supplies with greener gasses such as hydrogen.<br/><br/>This paper looks at the role hydrogen could play in decarbonisation.

In an integrated energy system hydrogen can support the decarbonisation of industry transport power generation and buildings across Europe. The EU Hydrogen Strategy addresses how to transform this potential into reality through investments regulation market creation and research and innovation.

Hydrogen can power sectors that are not suitable for electrification and provide storage to balance variable renewable energy flows but this can only be achieved with coordinated action between the public and private sector at EU level. The priority is to develop renewable hydrogen produced using mainly wind and solar energy. However in the short and medium term other forms of low-carbon hydrogen are needed to rapidly reduce emissions and support the development of a viable market.

This gradual transition will require a phased approach:

• From 2020 to 2024 we will support the installation of at least 6 gigawatts of renewable hydrogen electrolysers in the EU and the production of up to one million tonnes of renewable hydrogen.
• From 2025 to 2030 hydrogen needs to become an intrinsic part of our integrated energy system with at least 40 gigawatts of renewable hydrogen electrolysers and the production of up to ten million tonnes of renewable hydrogen in the EU.
• From 2030 to 2050 renewable hydrogen technologies should reach maturity and be deployed at large scale across all hard-to-decarbonise sectors.
• To help deliver on this Strategy the Commission is launched the European Clean Hydrogen Alliance with industry leaders civil society national and regional ministers and the European Investment Bank. The Alliance will build up an investment pipeline for scaled-up production and will support demand for clean hydrogen in the EU.

To target support at the cleanest available technologies the Commission will work to introduce common standards terminology and certification based on life-cycle carbon emissions anchored in existing climate and energy legislation and in line with the EU taxonomy for sustainable investments. The Commission will propose policy and regulatory measures to create investor certainty facilitate the uptake of hydrogen promote the necessary infrastructure and logistical networks adapt infrastructure planning tools and support investments in particular through the Next Generation EU recovery plan.

Although the UK has done a great job of decarbonising electricity generation to get to net zero we need to tackle harder-to-decarbonise sectors like heat transport and industry. Decarbonised gas – biogases hydrogen and the deployment of carbon capture usage and storage (CCUS) – can make our manufacturing more sustainable minimise disruption to families and deliver negative emissions.

This report Accelerating innovation towards net zero commissioned by the Aldersgate Group and co-authored with Vivid Economics identifies out how the government can achieve a net zero target cost-effectively in a way that enables the UK to capture competitive advantages.

The unique contribution of this report is to identify the lessons from successful and more rapid historical innovations and apply them to the challenge of meeting net zero emissions in the UK.

Achieving net zero emissions is likely to require accelerated innovation across research demonstration and early deployment of low carbon technologies. Researchers analysed five international case studies of relatively rapid innovations to draw key lessons for government on the conditions needed to move from a typical multi-decadal cycle to one that will deliver net zero emissions by mid-Century.

The case studies include:

• The deployment of the ATM network and cash cards across the UK
• Roll out of a gas network and central heating in the UK
• The development of wind turbines in Denmark and then the UK
• Moving from late-stage adoption of steel technology in South Korea to being the world leading exporter; and
• The slower than expected development of commercial-scale CCUS to date across the world.

The report also sets out which low carbon technologies are likely to have wider productivty and growth benefits in other industries for the UK. These include carbon capture use and storage (CCUS); heating ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC); wind energy; biofuels and batteries. These areas should be prioritised by the government’s innovation strategy going forwards.

Six key actions for government policy to accelerate low carbon innovation in the UK:

• Increase ambition in demonstrating complex and high capital cost technologies and systems.
• Create new markets to catalyse early deployment and move towards widespread commercialisation.
• Use concurrent innovations such as digital technologies to improve system efficiency and make new products more accessible and attractive to customers.
• Use existing or new organisations (cross-industry associations or public-private collaborations) to accelerate innovation in critical areas and coordinate early stage deployment.
• Harness trusted voices to build consumer acceptance through information sharing and rapid responses to concerns.
• Align innovation policy in such a way that it strengthens the UK’s industrial advantages and increases knowledge spillovers between businesses and sectors.

Implementing these lessons will require a further increase in government support for innovation – through both research development and demonstration and through deployment policies to create new markets.

Fossil fuels and materials on Earth are a finite resource and the disposal of waste into the air on land and into water has an impact on our environment on a global level. Using Switzerland as an example the energy demand and the technical challenges and the economic feasibility of a transition to an energy economy based entirely on renewable energy were analyzed. Three approaches for the complete substitution of fossil fuels with renewable energy from photovoltaics called energy systems (ES) were considered i.e. a purely electric system with battery storage (ELC) hydrogen (HYS) and synthetic hydrocarbons (HCR). ELC is the most energy efficient solution; however it requires seasonal electricity storage to meet year-round energy needs. Meeting this need through batteries has a significant capital cost and is not feasible at current rates of battery production and expanding pumped hydropower to the extent necessary will have a big impact on the environment. The HYS allows underground hydrogen storage to balance seasonal demand but requires building of a hydrogen infrastructure and applications working with hydrogen. Finally the HCR requires the largest photovoltaic (PV) field but the infrastructure and the applications already exist. The model for Switzerland can be applied to other countries adapting the solar irradiation the energy demand and the storage options.

In recent years there has been an increased interest in hydrogen energy due to a desire to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by utilizing hydrogen for numerous applications. Some countries (e.g. Japan Iceland and parts of Europe) have made great strides in the advancement of hydrogen generation and utilization. However in the United States there remains significant reservation and public uncertainty on the use and integration of hydrogen into the energy ecosystem. Massachusetts similar to many other states and small countries faces technical infrastructure policy safety and acceptance challenges with regards to hydrogen production and utilization. A hydrogen economy has the potential to provide economic benefits a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions and sector coupling to provide a resilient energy grid. In this paper the issues associated with integrating hydrogen into Massachusetts and other similar states or regions are studied to determine which hydrogen applications have the most potential understand the technical and integration challenges and identify how a hydrogen energy economy may be beneficial. Additionally hydrogen’s safety concerns and possible contribution to greenhouse gas emissions are also reviewed. Ultimately a set of eight recommendations is made to guide the Commonwealth’s consideration of hydrogen as a key component of its policies on carbon emissions and energy.

The effort to meet the ambitious targets of the Paris agreement is challenging many governments. The US and UK governments might have different approaches to achieving the targets but both will rely heavily on renewable energy sources such as wind and solar to power their economies. However these sources of power are unpredictable and ways will have to be developed to store renewable energy for hours days weeks seasons and maybe even years before it is used. As the disruptive and increasingly deadly impacts of climate change are being felt across the world the need to move to more sustainable sources of energy and to identify viable ways to store that energy has never been more important.<br/>This was the subject of the US–UK Science Forum on electrical storage in support of the grid which was held online from 17 – 18 March 2021. Co-organised by the Royal Society and the National Academy of Sciences it brought together a diverse group of 60 scientists policy makers industry leaders regulators and other key stakeholders for a wide-ranging discussion on all aspects of energy storage from the latest research in the field to the current status of deployment. It also considered the current national and international economic and policy contexts in which these developments are taking place. A number of key points emerged from the discussion. First it is clear that renewable energy will play an increasingly important role in the US and UK energy systems of the future and energy storage at a multi-terawatt hour scale has a vital role to play. Of course this will evolve differently to some extent in both countries and elsewhere according to the various geographical technological economic political social and regulatory environments. Second international collaboration is critical – no single nation will solve this problem alone. As two of the world’s leading scientific nations largest economies and per capita CO2 emitters with a long track record of collaboration the US and UK are well placed to play a vital role in addressing this critical challenge. As the discussion highlighted a wide range of energy storage technologies are now emerging and becoming increasingly available many of which have the potential to be critical components of a future net-zero energy system. A crucial next phase is in ensuring that these are technically developed as well as economically and political viable. This will require the support of a wide range of these potential solutions to ensure that their benefits remain widely available and to avoid costly ‘lock-in’. Scientists and science academies have a critical role to play in analysing technology options their combinations and their potential roles in future sustainable energy systems and in working with policymakers to incentivise investment and deployment.

In recent decades governments and society have been making increasing efforts to address and mitigate climate change by reducing emissions and decarbonising energy generation. Ireland has invested greatly in renewable electricity installing 4 GW of wind capacity since 2002 and has set assertive energy targets such as the aim to reduce overall emissions by 51% by 2030. Nonetheless considerable acceleration is needed in the decarbonisation of the country’s energy sector. This paper investigates the potential role hydrogen can play in Ireland’s energy transition proposing hydrogen as an energy vector and storage medium that may help the country achieve its targets and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Through literature review research and from industry insights the current state of the Irish energy sector is analysed and recommendations are made as to how where and when hydrogen can be integrated into the decarbonisation of Ireland’s electricity heating and transport. It is concluded that; with significant effort from the government policymakers industry and organisations; the effective deployment of hydrogen technologies in Ireland could avoid up to 6.1 MtCO2eq of emissions annually reflecting a trend observed in many other developed countries in which hydrogen plays an important part in the path to a low-carbon future. Prospective roles for hydrogen in Ireland include renewable energy storage and grid balancing through the deployment of Power-to-Gas systems a replacement for fossil natural gas in the gas grid for backup electricity production as well as industry and heating requirements and the use of hydrogen as a fuel for heavy transport.

This paper presents an eco-technoeconomic analysis (eTEA) of hydrogen production via solid oxide electrolysis cells (SOECs) aimed at identifying the economically optimal size and operating trajectories for these cells. Notably degradation effects were accounted by employing a data-driven degradationbased model previously developed by our group for the analysis of SOECs. This model enabled the identification of the optimal trajectories under which SOECs can be economically operated over extended periods of time with reduced degradation rate. The findings indicated that the levelized cost of hydrogen (LCOH) produced by SOECs (ranging from 2.78 to 11.67 $/kg H2) is higher compared to gray hydrogen generated via steam methane reforming (SMR) (varying from 1.03 to 2.16 $ per kg H2) which is currently the dominant commercial process for large-scale hydrogen production. Additionally SOECs generally had lower life cycle CO2 emissions per kilogram of produced hydrogen (from 1.62 to 3.6 kg CO2 per kg H2) compared to SMR (10.72–15.86 kg CO2 per kg H2). However SOEC life cycle CO2 emissions are highly dependent on the CO2 emissions produced by its power source as SOECs powered by high-CO2-emission sources can produce as much as 32.22 kg CO2 per kg H2. Finally the findings of a sensitivity analysis indicated that the price of electricity has a greater influence on the LCOH than the capital cost.

The UK Hydrogen Champion engaged with stakeholders across the hydrogen value chain between July and December 2022.<br/>This report summarises their findings and makes recommendations for government and industry to accelerate the growth of the hydrogen sector.

This paper aims to assess the impact of EU energy and climate policy as a response to Russia’s war in Ukraine on the EU decarbonization enterprise. It showcases how the Russian invasion was a crunch point that forced the EU to abandon its liberal market dogma and embrace in practice an open strategic autonomy approach. This led to an updated energy and climate policy with significant changes underpinning its main pillars interdependence diversification and the focus of market regulation and build-up. The reversal of enforced interdependence with Russia and the legislative barrage to support and build-up a domestic clean energy market unlocks significant emission reduction potential with measures targeting energy efficiency solar wind and hydrogen development; an urban renewable revolution and electricity and carbon market reforms standing out. Such positive decarbonization effects however are weakened by source and fuel diversification moves that extend to coal and shale gas especially when leading to an infrastructure build-up and locking-in gas use in the mid-term. Despite these caveats the analysis overall vindicates the hypothesis that geopolitics constitutes a facilitator and accelerator of EU energy transition.

Hydrogen (H2) is expected to be a key instrument to meet the European Union (EU) Green Deal main objective: i.e. climate neutrality by 2050. Renewable hydrogen deployment is expected to significantly reduce EU greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by displacing carbon-intensive sources of energy. However concerns have been raised recently regarding the potential global warming impact caused by hydrogen emissions. Although hydrogen is neither intentionally emitted to the atmosphere when used nor a direct greenhouse gas hydrogen losses affect atmospheric chemistry indirectly contributing to global warming. To better understand the potential environmental impact of a hydrogen economy and to assess the need for action in this respect the Clean Hydrogen Joint Undertaking and the U.S. Department of Energy jointly organised with the support of the European Commission Hydrogen Europe Hydrogen Europe Research the Hydrogen Council and the International Partnership for Hydrogen and Fuel Cells in the Economy a 2-day expert workshop. Experts agreed that a low-carbon and in particular a renewable hydrogen economy would significantly reduce the global warming impact compared to a fossil fuel economy. However hydrogen losses to the atmosphere will impact the lifetime of other greenhouse gases namely methane ozone and water vapour indirectly contributing to the increase of the Earth’s temperature in the near-term. To minimise the climate impact of a hydrogen economy losses should therefore be minimised prevented and monitored. Unfortunately current loss rates along the hydrogen supply chain are not well constrained and are currently estimated to go from few percents for compressed hydrogen (1-4%) up to 10-20% for liquefied hydrogen. Both the global warming impact of hydrogen emissions and the leakage rates from a developed hydrogen economy are subject to a high level of uncertainty. It is therefore of paramount importance to invest in developing the ability to accurately quantify hydrogen emissions as well as engage in more research on hydrogen leakage prevention and monitoring systems. More data from the hydrogen industry and improved observational capacity are needed to improve the accuracy of the global hydrogen budget. Finally it is recommended to always report the amount and location of hydrogen emissions when environmental assessments are performed. There is a range of emission metrics and time scales that are designed to evaluate the climate impacts of short-lived GHG emissions compared to CO2 (i.e. CO2 equivalents). The metric choice must depend on the specific policy goal as they can provide very different perspectives on the relative importance of H2 emissions on the climate depending on the time horizon of concern. These differences need to be viewed in the context of the specific policy objectives.

This policy briefing considers how the use of nuclear energy could be expanded to make the most of the energy produced and also to have the flexibility to complement an energy system with a growing input of intermittent renewable energy.<br/>What is nuclear cogeneration?<br/>Nuclear cogeneration is where the heat generated by a nuclear power station is used not only to generate electricity but to address some of the ‘difficult to decarbonise’ energy demands such as domestic heating and hydrogen production. It also enables a nuclear plant to be used more flexibly by switching between electricity generation and cogeneration applications.<br/>Applications for nuclear cogeneration<br/>Heat generated by civil nuclear reactors can be extracted at two different points for applications requiring either low-temperature or high-temperature heat. Each application differs in many aspects of operation and have different challenges.<br/>Low-temperature cogeneration<br/>Applications for the lower temperature ‘waste’ heat include:<br/>District heating<br/>Seawater desalination<br/>Low-temperature industrial process heating<br/>High-temperature cogeneration<br/>Higher temperature heat can be accessed earlier and used for:<br/>High-temperature industrial process heating<br/>Hydrogen production<br/>Sustainable synthetic fuel production<br/>Direct air capture<br/>Thermal energy storage<br/>Challenges of cogeneration systems<br/>Whilst some nuclear cogeneration applications have been employed in many countries the economic benefit of widescale nuclear cogeneration needs to be determined. However if the construction cost reductions for small modular reactors (SMRs) can be realised and the regulation and licencing processes streamlined then the additional revenue benefits of cogeneration could be material for SMRs and for the future of nuclear generation in the UK.<br/>Other outstanding issues include the ownership of reactors the future demand for hydrogen and other cogeneration products at a regional national and international level and the cost of carbon and dependable power.

The decarbonisation of heat supply will play a critical role in meeting the emissions reduction target. There is however great uncertainty associated with the achievable levels of heat decarbonisation and the optimal heat technology mix which can have serious implications for the future electricity and gas demand. This work employs an integrated gas electricity and heat supply model to quantify the impacts of heat decarbonisation pathways on the future electricity and gas demand. A case study in the Great Britain is performed considering two heat decarbonisation scenarios in 2050: one is the predominantly electrified heat supply and the other is the predominantly hydrogen-based heat supply. The electricity demand becomes more volatile in the electrified heat scenario as the peak surges to 107.3 GW compared to 51.1 GW in the 2018 reference scenario while the peak in hydrogen-based heat scenario is 78.4 GW. The peak gas demand declines from 247.6 GW for 2018 to 81.7 GW for electrified heat scenario and to 85.1 GW for hydrogen-based heat scenario confirming that the seasonality associated with heat demand is shifting away from the gas network and towards electricity network. Moreover a sensitivity analysis shows that the future electricity demand is highly sensitive to parameters such as relative heat demand coefficient of performance of air source heat pumps and share of electricity in hydrogen production. Finally the application of a load shifting strategy demonstrates that demand-side flexibility has the potential to maintain the electricity system balance and minimise the generation and network infrastructure requirements arising from heat electrification. While the case study presented in this paper is based on the Great Britain the findings regarding the future electricity and gas demand are relevant for the global energy transition.

Burges Salmon’s energy lawyers are known for ground-breaking work in the energy power and utilities sector. They understand the opportunities the technologies and the challenges which the sector presents. Their reputation has been built upon first-of-a-kind projects and deals and an intimate knowledge of energy regulation. Burges Salmon specialists provide expert advice throughout the project/plant life cycle. Over the years this has in turn led to investors and funders requesting their services in the knowledge that they understand the key issues technologies face. They have a team of over 80 lawyers who focus on helping developers investors and funders achieve their aims in the sector. The team has won or been shortlisted for all the key industry awards in energy over the last decade.

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Carbon dioxide is an important medium of the global carbon cycle and has the dual properties of realizing the conversion of organic matter in the ecosystem and causing the greenhouse effect. The fixed or available carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is defined as “gray carbon” while the carbon dioxide that cannot be fixed or used and remains in the atmosphere is called “black carbon”. Carbon neutral is the consensus of human development but its implementation still faces many challenges in politics resources technology market and energy structure etc. It is proposed that carbon replacement carbon emission reduction carbon sequestration and carbon cycle are the four main approaches to achieve carbon neutral among which carbon replacement is the backbone. New energy has become the leading role of the third energy conversion and will dominate carbon neutral in the future. Nowadays solar energy wind energy hydropower nuclear energy and hydrogen energy are the main forces of new energy helping the power sector to achieve low carbon emissions. “Green hydrogen” is the reserve force of new energy helping further reduce carbon emissions in industrial and transportation fields. Artificial carbon conversion technology is a bridge connecting new energy and fossil energy effectively reducing the carbon emissions of fossil energy. It is predicted that the peak value of China’s carbon dioxide emissions will reach 110108 t in 2030. The study predicts that China's carbon emissions will drop to 22108 t 33108 t and 44108 t respectively in 2060 according to three scenarios of high medium and low levels. To realize carbon neutral in China seven implementation suggestions have been put forward to build a new “three small and one large” energy structure in China and promote the realization of China's energy independence strategy.

Duqm is located in the Al Wasta Governorate in Oman and is currently fed by 10 diesel generators with a total capacity of around 76 MW and other rental power sources with a size of 18 MW. To make the electric power supply come completely from renewables one novel solution is to replace the diesel with hydrogen. The extra energy coming from the PV-wind system can be utilized to produce green hydrogen that will be utilized by the fuel cell. Measured data of solar insolation hourly wind speeds and hourly load consumption are used in the proposed system. Finding an ideal configuration that can match the load demand and be suitable from an economic and environmental point of view was the main objective of this research. The Hybrid Optimization Model for Multiple Energy Resources (HOMER Pro) microgrid software was used to evaluate the technical and financial performance. The findings demonstrated that the suggested hybrid system (PV-wind-fuel cell) will remove CO2 emissions at a cost of energy (COE) of USD 0.436/kWh and will reduce noise. With a total CO2 emission of 205676830 kg/year the levelized cost of energy for the current system is USD 0.196/kWh. The levelized cost for the diesel system will rise to USD 0.243/kWh when taking 100 US dollars per ton of CO2 into account. Due to system advantages the results showed that using solar wind and fuel cells is the most practical and cost-effective technique. The results of this research illustrated the feasibility and effectiveness of utilizing wind and solar resources for both hydrogen and energy production and also suggested that hydrogen is a more cost-effective long-term energy storage option than batteries.

On today’s episode of Everything About Hydrogen we are speaking with Dan Sadler Vice President for UK Low Carbon Solutions at Equinor. Equinor is of course a giant in the global energy sector and is taking a prominent role in the development of the international hydrogen economy with high-profile investments in a number of large-scale production projects in major markets such as the UK. Dan has spent the better part of a decade focused on how to leverage hydrogen’s potential as a fuel for the energy transition and we are excited to have him with us to discuss how Equinor is deploying hydrogen technologies and how he and Equinor expect hydrogen to play a role in a decarbonized energy future.

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This article explores the complexity of factors or mechanisms that can influence hydrogen stakeholder perception and acceptance in Norway. We systematically analyze 16 semi-structured in-depth interviews with industry stakeholders at local municipal regional and national levels of interest and authority in Norway. Four empirical dimensions are identified that highlight the need for whole system approaches in hydrogen technology research: (1) several challenges incentives and synergy effects influence the hydrogen transition; (2) transport preferences are influenced by combined needs and limitations; (3) levels of knowledge and societal trust determinant to perceptions of risk and acceptance; and (4) national and international hydrogen stakeholders are crucial to building incentives and securing commitment among key actors. Our findings imply that project management planners engineers and policymakers need to apply a whole system perspective and work across local regional and national levels before proceeding with large-scale development and implementation of the hydrogen supply chain.

Delivering low-carbon heat will require the substitution of natural gas with low-carbon alternatives such as electricity and hydrogen. The objective of this paper is to develop a method to soft-link two advanced investment-optimising energy system models RTN (Resource-Technology Network) and WeSIM (Whole-electricity System Investment Model) in order to assess cost-efficient heat decarbonisation pathways for the UK while utilising the respective strengths of the two models. The linking procedure included passing on hourly electricity prices from WeSIM as input to RTN and returning capacities and locations of hydrogen generation and shares of electricity and hydrogen in heat supply from RTN to WeSIM. The outputs demonstrate that soft-linking can improve the quality of the solution while providing useful insights into the cost-efficient pathways for zero-carbon heating. Quantitative results point to the cost-effectiveness of using a mix of electricity and hydrogen technologies for delivering zero-carbon heat also demonstrating a high level of interaction between electricity and hydrogen infrastructure in a zero-carbon system. Hydrogen from gas reforming with carbon capture and storage can play a significant role in the medium term while remaining a cost-efficient option for supplying peak heat demand in the longer term with the bulk of heat demand being supplied by electric heat pumps.