The Energy Republic September Edition

INDUSTRY NEWS
Hydrogen Will Contribute
20% Solution for Energy
Transition – Daryl Wilson
With the current global trends on
c l i m a t e c h a n g e a n d
discussions for a low-carbon
future under the energy transition
agenda, coupled with the Net-Zero
Emissions target by 2050, Hydrogen will
contribute 20% solution in decarbonizing
the energy systems, the Executive
Director of Hydrogen Council, Daryl
Wilson said.
Hydrogen will play a key role in the global
energy transition by helping to diversify
energy sources worldwide, and foster
business and technological innovation as
drivers for long-term economic growth,
with enormous benefits for both the
energy system and other end-use
applications in the energy value chain.
Speaking in an exclusive interview with
Ndubuisi Micheal Obineme, Managing
Editor of The Energy Republic, Daryl
Wilson said that Hydrogen will become
part of the future energy systems, and it’s
a versatile energy carrier that can be
used in a wide variety of applications,
such as refining gasoline, making
ammonia fertilizer, refining liquid fuels
f o r s u s t a i n a b l e a v i a t i o n f u e l ,
transportation, and several other
processes.
Over the years, Daryl explained that the
main impediment was the perception
that Hydrogen is very expensive and it
will remain an expensive energy option.
According to him, Hydrogen Council in
partnership with McKinsey and Company
developed a report which shows that the cost
of hydrogen production for transportation,
major industries, and energy generation will
reduce just like the scenario for wind and
solar energy.
“Hydrogen is critical for transportation and
there’s been a lot of discussion about electric
vehicles and they play an important role. The
Hydrogen Council released a report in
October last year, showing that our future
transportation sector will be served by both
hydrogen and batteries. Hydrogen and
batteries are not in competition; they are
complementary solutions to decarbonize the
energy sector.
“There is a special role that hydrogen will play,
especially around long distance and heavy
transport – whether that’s long-distance
passenger cars or long-distance trucks.
Hydrogen has a very special role to play there
as hydrogen brings more capacity to a vehicle
than you will be able to realize from a battery.
“There are also places in the world like Japan,
Korea and in eastern China, whether or not
substantial renewable energy resources and
hydrogen will be a way of bringing clean
energy to those geographies so that they can
decarbonize their transportation systems
directly on hydrogen.
“And, in our report, we communicated our
assessment that hydrogen will be 22% of final
energy use by 2050. That’s fully 20% of the
solution for climate change. It’s not a small
contribution that hydrogen will make in the
coming decades.
“We’ve been very successful with our mission
to convince energy policymakers that
hydrogen is a viable part of the future energy
system.
“There are many more hydrogen projects on
the pipeline to decarbonize the global energy
systems. More than 30 countries around the
world have announced strategies supporting
hydrogen as the main part of their future
energy plan. Many of those countries have
put in place very significant amounts of
funding: exceeding $10 billion in the case of
France and Germany, exceeding $20 million in
the case of China, and $10 billion in the United
States. There have been very large funding
commitments as well as policy commitments.
“Now, we’re in the phase of implementation.
There have been many announcements and
commitments of funding. These now need to
b e f o l l o w e d u p w i t h t h e a c t u a l
implementation of these projects so that they
have an impact on the energy systems,” Daryl
added.
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