BAKU, Azerbaijan, Aug.16
By Leman Zeynalova – Trend:
Hydrogen will face stiff competition in two sectors, Dr. Katja Yafimava, a senior research fellow on the Oxford Institute for Energy Studies Natural Gas Research Programme, told Trend.
She pointed out that the EU has made a political and legal commitment of reaching net-zero GHG emissions by 2050.
“There is a shared understanding that this can be achieved at a significantly lower cost through hybrid electrification (mix of electricity and gas) rather than through full electrification. Renewable and low carbon hydrogen could play an important role in decarbonizing the EU economy, most promising are industrial and power sectors throughout the EU,” noted Yafimava.
She noted that in the industrial sector this could be done through converting existing industrial uses of high carbon hydrogen to renewable or low carbon hydrogen thus allowing for decarbonisation of refining and ammonia production and steel making.
“In power sector hydrogen could provide a longer term energy storage compared to batteries. Hydrogen’s role in heat and transport sectors is more uncertain and would vary significantly across the EU, as in these sectors hydrogen will face stiff competition from electric solutions,” added Yafimava.
Today, industry is the largest user of hydrogen, in particular in the chemical (e.g. ammonia) and petrochemical sectors. However, almost all of it is grey hydrogen leading to substantial GHG emissions. Green and blue hydrogen can replace the existing use of grey hydrogen and be a promising enabler of decarbonisation in other industry sectors. The steel industry could significantly reduce emissions by switching to hydrogen-based steelmaking. Hydrogen can also replace the existing use of fossil energy carriers in medium- and high-temperature processes (e.g. in glass, cement and pulp and paper) and replace fossil feedstocks in the chemical sector (e.g. high value chemicals).
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