Drive for Ambitious H2 Cost Targets Is On: Hydrogen Forum Update

(Bloomberg) -- Countries committed to net-zero emissions are increasingly looking to hydrogen as a key part of their energy plans, a transition that Wednesday’s Bloomberg H2 Road to Net Zero conference in Milan will examine. 

The trend is already driving a surge in hydrogen-related technology sales, with global installations of electrolyzers, the hardware needed to split water into hydrogen and oxygen, set to double next year. 

Also set to double: the number of nations working on new hydrogen strategies, with the biggest push coming from China, where committed projects could drive global electrolyzer sales past two gigawatts in 2022. 

But demand for clean hydrogen, or H2, is still lagging behind electrolyzer makers’ aggressive capacity expansion plans. To sustain the momentum, more actual policies stimulating clean hydrogen demand will need to emerge.

Key Developments:

• While the cheapest way of making low-carbon hydrogen is by reforming natural gas and capturing the CO2, by 2030, H2 from renewables should be cheaper.
• How much hydrogen is used in future depends on policy. Countries with net-zero emissions targets, carbon pricing and hydrogen strategies with investment mechanisms are likely to see the highest H2 demand.
• Hydrogen produced with low or no emissions could be used to decarbonize hard-to-abate sectors such as construction, transport and metals manufacturing (see New Energy Outlook, below). However, the fuel will need to compete with other energy sources.

Timestamps are Milan, CET.

Iveco Sees Nikola as Clean Engine Partner (4:46 p.m.)

Iveco Group sees Nikola, with which it already has a venture, as a possible partner in clean engines, says Gerrit Marx, Iveco’s designated CEO.

The hydrogen market has evolved to the point that it’s seen as a potential fuel for long-haul trucking, Marx says.

Regional Hydrogen Train Fleets Coming (4:19 p.m.)

Regional hydrogen-powered rail fleets should be ready in 2022 for Germany and the following year for Italy, Alstom CEO Henri Poupart-Lafarge says. 

Orders for hydrogen-fueled trains will likely be small-scale over the next three or four years; the executive said he expects larger-scale production to ramp up from 2025.

$2 Green Hydrogen: Not Ambitious Enough? (3:46 p.m.)

Green hydrogen at $2 per kilogram by 2025 “may not be ambitious enough,” says Paddy Padmanathan, president and CEO of ACWA Power.

Hydrogen Could Hit ‘Break-Even’ Cost Level, Alvera Says (3:28 p.m.)

Key to transition is making sources like hydrogen at “break-even” cost level relative to older, more-polluting sources, Snam SpA CEO Marco Alvera says.

Hydrogen Is ‘One of the Ways,’ Cingolani Says (3:14 p.m.)

“Once we get past the language of the millennials, I think the message is we have a climate emergency,” says Roberto Cingolani, Italy’s minister for ecological transition, who reiterates that the government is working on a “structural” plan to cut utilities bills for consumers and businesses. 

Speaking of the decarbonization debate around industries like steel-making, the minister says that, along with gas, “hydrogen is one of the ways.”

Hydrogen Costs Could Be Set to Fall, Kerry Says (2:30 p.m.)

U.S. Special Envoy for Climate John Kerry says in the conference’s keynote address that the “habitual” high costs for hydrogen could fall as clean H2 is deployed “at commercial scale,” unlocking “countless” opportunities.  

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