0 items USD 0.00Green hydrogen holds the key to reducing the potential carbon footprint
Today, nearly all hydrogen, which amounts to dizzying 70 million tons per year, is being produced using fossil fuels. Outcompeting fossil fuel-based hydrogen is crucial for transitioning to a zero-emission society.
Green Hydrogen will be pivotal for the world's transition to green energy solutions. Hydrogen-powered fuel cells used in electric light and heavy-duty vehicles will be the main consumption segment for green hydrogen in the future.
1 . Types of Hydrogen
- Green hydrogen is hydrogen that is produced in a "green" way, usually by the electrolysis of water using renewable energy.
- Pink hydrogen is hydrogen produced from nuclear power. Sometimes it is also classified as "green".
- Grey hydrogen is the polluting hydrogen produced from fossil fuels. According to some calculations, this may be worse than using fossil fuels directly.
- Blue hydrogen is grey hydrogen with emission capture, which is considered somewhat better. But this is primarily theoretical, not something currently being done, and it still has a negative ecological impact.
2 . Electrolysis and Green Hydrogen
Electrolysis is a promising option for producing carbon-free hydrogen/green hydrogen (a highly flammable gas) from renewable and nuclear resources. Electrolysis uses electricity (obtained from renewable sources) to split water into hydrogen and oxygen. This reaction takes place in a unit called an electrolyzer. We can then re-react the hydrogen with the oxygen, giving us most of our energy back and leaving the original water as a waste product.
*Falling renewable energy prices—coupled with the dwindling cost of electrolyzers and increased efficiency due to technology improvements—have increased the commercial viability of green hydrogen production. The figure below shows the forecast of the global range of levelized cost of hydrogen production for large projects through 2050.
There is not enough free hydrogen available on Earth. Nor are there pockets of hydrogen from which we can extract it. Hydrogen is more useful as an energy storage medium like a battery and not as an energy source like a gas. While electrolysis is one method of manufacturing free hydrogen, it is not most commonly used. Most hydrogen is produced from natural gas using steam reforming.
Natural gas, oil, and coal combined account for about 96% of commercial hydrogen production, while electrolysis produces only 4% of the world's hydrogen.
3 . Global Electrolyzer Market Potential
The results of our recent study showed that the Global Electrolyzer market had total revenue of 140 M USD back in 2015 and increased to 193 M USD in 2020. We study the development law of the market in the past few years and establish a data model to analyze and deduce future market changes. Finally, we predicted that the value of Electrolyzer markets can be 510 M USD by 2026. The CAGR of Electrolyzer is 18% from 2020 to 2026.
The Asia Pacific was the largest revenue market, with a market share of 45% in 2015 and 46% in 2020, an increase of 1%. In 2020, the Europe market share was 39%, ranking second. With the improvement of the economic level, the downstream demand continues to expand, and the technological level of these regions continues to improve, further promoting market development.
4 . Electrolyzer Leading Manufacturers
Electrolyzer manufacturers are mainly from Europe and Asia; the industry concentration rate is low. The top three companies are Nel (Proton On-Site), Asahi Kasei, and Hydrogenics, with a revenue market share of 16%, 8%, and 7% in 2020.
1. Nel ASA
Nel is a Norwegian company providing solutions for producing, storing, and distributing hydrogen from renewable energy sources. The company has started initial production at their new manufacturing facility at Herøya in Norway. Currently, this facility is the world’s largest production facility for electrolysers, bringing significant efficiencies of scale and automation to bear on our cost reduction plans.
Nel consists of electrolyser production facilities in Norway and Connecticut, USA, and one fueling station production facility in Denmark, supported by headquarters in Norway. Nel has a sales and support network with global reach, including service organizations close to the main markets for fueling stations – the U.S. West Coast, South Korea, and Northern Europe (based out of Denmark).
Nel was awarded a EUR 13.5 million contract by Iberdrola for a 20 MW PEM solution for a green fertilizer project in Spain. Nel also received a purchase order for a 20 MW alkaline electrolyser from Ovako. The contract value is approximately EUR 11 million.
2. Asahi Kasei
Asahi Kasei is a diversified chemical company with three business sectors. Asahi Kasei begins manufacturing hydrogen by water electrolysis as raw material for ammonia in Nobeoka.
Asahi Kasei Engineering received the order for the alkaline water electrolysis system from Toshiba Energy Systems & Solutions Corp. in 2017. The system was installed at the Fukushima Hydrogen Energy Research Field (FH2R), which opened on March 7, 2020, as a technological development project of NEDO (Japan’s New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization). Able to produce hydrogen at the rate of 1,200 Nm3 per hour.
Asahi Kasei's production equipment uses electrolysis to free hydrogen from an aqueous potassium hydroxide solution. One unit can produce enough hydrogen daily to fill 850 fuel cell vehicles with 5 kg tanks.
3. Hydrogenics Corporation
Hydrogenics Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, designs, develops, and manufactures hydrogen generation products based on water electrolysis technology; and fuel cell products based on proton exchange membrane (PEM) technology. It operates through two segments, OnSite Generation and Power Systems. In 2019 Hydrogenics was acquired in large parts by Cummins as part of their New Power division. Hydrogenics is now owned 81% by Cummins and 19% by Air Liquide.
Hydrogenics Europe NV is headquartered in Belgium, developing water electrolyzers for over 20 years, and has installed over 400 systems worldwide for many different applications.
Resources
- *https://blogs.worldbank.org/ppps/green-hydrogen-key-investment-energy-tr...
- Company websites and annual reports
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