Hydrogen Is Our Best Bet To Decarbonize Heavy Industry, U.S. Energy Secretary Says

[Caribbeans]

Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm arrives to speak before U.S. President Joe Biden at Tioga Marine Terminal in Philadelphia.GETTY IMAGES

Hydrogen Is Our Best Bet To Decarbonize Heavy Industry, U.S. Energy Secretary Says

Alan Ohnsman | Forbes | Oct 17, 2023

The U.S. government is making an unprecedented push to invest in clean hydrogen as part of its efforts to cut greenhouse gas pollution. Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm tells Forbes that the government believes fuel will be crucial in decarbonizing heavy industrial processes, particularly steel and ammonia production.

“Hydrogen is going to play a role in the hardest-to-decarbonize sectors (that are) 30% of our CO2 emissions,” she said. “We want to be in a position to move eventually away from fossil fuels and to clean energy all the way. Renewables are not going to be able to get to the temperature necessary for decarbonizing heavy industry. Another solution is going to be necessary and we think this is really right for that.”

Last week, the Energy Department designated seven “Hydrogen Hubs” around the country, covering 16 states, that will share $7 billion in funds for clean hydrogen projects set aside in the 2021 Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. Those projects, including proposed pipelines, heavy-duty truck programs and clean hydrogen for fertilizer production, have also attracted announced corporate investments worth more than $40 billion. The Biden Administration also predicts the hubs will create hundreds of thousands of new jobs.

Hydrogen, the universe’s most abundant element, is already heavily used at oil refineries, by the chemical industry and for food and agricultural products, but most of the 100 million tons currently produced globally is made by pulling it from natural gas in a process that creates carbon dioxide. New technologies, including electrolyzers from companies such as Plug Power and Cummins’ Accelera that make “green” hydrogen from water and renewable power as well as carbon capture methods being applied to conventional production methods, are incentivized by the federal hub plan. A new tax credit for clean hydrogen is also expected to kick in by the start of 2024...more
https://www.forbes.com/sites/alanohnsman/2023/10/17/hydrogen-is-our-best-bet-to-decarbonize-heavy-industry-us-energy-secretary-says/

RELATED:

CHINA: JINNAN Steel Group to Deploy 10,000 Hydrogen Heavy-duty Trucks by 2025. Specific deployment targets for each year-1,000 HDT for 2023, 2,000 HDT for 2024, and 7,000 HDT for 2025. According to latest industry survey, hydrogen is sold at or even below 25 Rmb/kg ($3.6/kg) without government subsidy
https://chinahydrogen.substack.com/p/jinnan-steel-group-to-deploy-10000

Interesting that hydrogen in California costs $36.00 Kg while in China the cost is $3.60 Kg. In Japan, it costs ~$8.30 Kg. Why is H2 4+ Times the cost in Japan and 10x the cost in China? One day we will all know. At least those of us interested in answers.

[Miguelito Loveless]

1. Only if it is made

with renewable energy. Otherwise, not so much.

[Think. Again.]

2. Yep...

...another part of the energy transition is going full force on replacing all CO2 emitting energy sources with non-CO2 emitting sources.

Luckily, as we build out the H2 production industry, we can choose to build these new H2 production plants with their own dedicated non-CO2 energy plants, so we can also avoid pulling energy from the grid.

But most importantly, we must start building out every component of a clean energy economy as quickly as possible. We can, and will, tweak and improve all of it continously forever as is true with every industry.

[Think. Again.]

3. You write...

"Interesting that hydrogen in California costs $36.00 Kg while in China the cost is $3.60 Kg. In Japan, it costs ~$8.30 Kg. Why is H2 4+ Times the cost in Japan and 10x the cost in China? One day we will all know. At least those of us interested in answers."

I find that interesting too because the $36 kg price is way, way above anything I've read about.

For example, here's an article stating that green H2 is only costing about $5 kg as of 12 October 2023:

The levelised cost of green hydrogen can be expected to fall to $2/kg by 2030, down from around $5/kg today, on the back of massive reductions in the cost of wind, solar and electrolyser equipment, according to a new report from Norwegian maritime standards firm DNV — but only for projects using on-site renewable electricity supply.

from: https://www.hydrogeninsight.com/production/-green-hydrogen-will-cost-2-kg-by-2030-but-only-from-producers-with-dedicated-renewables-supply-dnv/2-1-1533957