BAKU, Azerbaijan, Feb.24. Green hydrogen is set to be far cheaper than alternative methods, Trend reports with reference to the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA).
The latest IRENA report shows that its production cost can drop from $3/kilogram in 2021 to $1/kilogram by 2050. Despite the good prospects for cost reduction, still there is a bottleneck of cost-effective hydrogen transportation to long distance, which should be addressed by major technology developers.
Hydrogen technologies are becoming popular all over the world.
“Investment has been led by the Americas (particularly the United States), which made up 44 percent of overall investments in 2022, followed by Asia and the Pacific (mainly China) accounting for 33 percent of the $1.1 billion global total,” the report says.
IRENA notes that notwithstanding relatively small amount of investments, China commissioned 2.5 times more electrolyser capacity than the Americas, but the cost of electrolysers sold in China is more than 70 percent cheaper than elsewhere.
“Europe and the Middle East made up the remainder of investments; many projects in the region struggled to reach financial close due to uncertainties over hydrogen standards and subsidies. As of October 2022, more than 60 countries had developed or were preparing hydrogen strategies, up from just one country (Japan) in 2017. It is expected that 115 gigawatts of electrolyser capacity will be added by 2030, 73 percent of it in Europe. While current investment is significantly less than for mature renewable energy technologies such as wind and solar, hydrogen technology has seen strong inflows of early-stage capital as well as high levels of national funding in recent years,” the report says.
---
Follow the author on Twitter: @Lyaman_Zeyn