H2Tech - Q3 2021 - 9

REGIONAL REPORT: NORTH AMERICA
North America sees ripe
opportunity for lowcarbon
H2
production
A. BLUME, Editor-in-Chief
With its highly developed industrial
infrastructure and growing renewable energy
sector offering a wealth of opportunities
to produce low-carbon H2
America is ripe to join the H2
, North
frenzy taking
place in the Europe and Asia-Pacific
regions. Green H2
will find increasing applications
in the North American market,
particularly the U.S., as production costs
decline in the coming years. In the near
term, the region is well poised to take advantage
of blue H2
large-scale green H2
projects as a bridge to
production powered
by renewable energy.
This is somewhat in contrast to Europe
and Asia-Pacific, where significant
climate-change
concerns and carbonreduction
efforts have brought green H2
into focus as an immediate and prioritized
decarbonization solution. In North America,
the market will largely determine how
and where low-carbon H2
reaches the U.S.
energy system over the following decades.
High H2
the U.S., H2
growth potential in U.S. In
has the potential to play a
vital role in balancing the power grid.
In combination with renewable energy
generation, it can be used to supplement
seasonal and large-scale energy storage
requirements. H2
can be blended with
natural gas to power residential and commercial
buildings, and it can help decarbonize
the transportation and materialshandling
industries with its use in FCEVs.
The report, " Roadmap to a U.S. hydeveloped
by a coalidrogen
economy, " 1
tion of major oil and gas, power, automotive,
fuel cell and H2
companies and
released in October 2020, details how
the U.S. can expand its global energy
leadership by scaling up activity in the
fuel cell electric buses. Photo: SoCalGas.
rapidly evolving H2
map anticipates that H2
economy. The Roadfrom
low-carbon
sources could supply roughly 14% of the
country's energy needs by 2050, including
hard-to-electrify sectors that are dependent
on natural gas, such as high-heat
industrial processes and fertilizer manufacturing
(FIG. 1).1
Furthermore, the Roadmap predicts
alone could reduce U.S. CO2
levels
levels by 36% by 2050.
industry in the
However, for these goals to be achieved,
the U.S. must realize massive investment
in its fledgling green H2
near term. Greater federal investment is
needed to build H2
production and transport
infrastructure, as is greater privatesector
investment (see this issue's Editorial
Comment for more information).
Also essential are new codes and standards
to regulate the expanding H2
supply
chain, as well as further research into
future large-scale H2
production technologies,
such as photoelectrochemical
solar water splitting, thermochemical
solar water splitting and microbial electrolysis
of waste streams.
The U.S. is also studying the blending
of up to 15% H2
into the natural gas
grid to reduce emissions, such as through
the DOE's HyBlend project. Blends of up
to 15% are feasible without significant
changes to infrastructure. Blending 20%
H2
the need to fast-track research and investment,
the U.S. DOE launched its Hydrogen
Program Plan in November 2020 and
its Hydrogen Energy Earthshot Initiative
in June 2021. The Hydrogen Earthshot
will help accelerate breakthroughs of
more abundant, affordable and reliable
clean energy solutions within the decade.
Hydrogen Shot also seeks to reduce the
cost of low-carbon H2
production, delivery
and dispensing by 80%, to $1/kg by
2030, with an interim goal of reaching a
price point of $2/kg by 2025. At present,
green H2
in the U.S. costs around $5/kg,
that H2
by 16% and its NOX
while blue H2 costs less than $2/kg.
The Program Plan and Earthshot also
for industrial and stationary
storage; and a fuel cell system cost of
outline a 2030 targeted price point of $1/
kg for H2
power generation; $9/kW for low-carbon
H2
$900/kW for stationary, high-temperature
installations with 40,000-hr durabilby
2050 would require approximately
900 TWh of electricity, enabling a doubling
of existing renewable generation.
2030 H2
price targets. In line with
FIG. 1. U.S. low-carbon H2
demand potential
through 2050, metric MMtpy. Source:
" Roadmap to a U.S. hydrogen economy, "
McKinsey & Co. and FCHEA.
OPENING PHOTO: SoCalGas and SunLine Transit Agency's joint research project, H2 SilverSTARS, will produce green H2 to fuel SunLine's fleet
of 17 H2
H2Tech | Q3 2021 9

H2Tech - Q3 2021

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