Green Hydrogen

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Green Hydrogen A Game Changer for the Energy
Transition in Europe Green hydrogen is a
nontoxic, carbon-friendly gas produced by the
splitting of water molecules into hydrogen gas
through electrolysis, releasing oxygen as a
byproduct. The process involves the passage of
electric current through an electrolyzer. Green
hydrogen is considered carbon-free therefore,
even the electricity utilized for electrolysis
should be generated through renewable sources.
Several global researchers scientists concur
that green hydrogen can emerge as a befitting
solution to mitigate the burgeoning problem of
global warming and help achieve a green
gas-neutral economy by 2050. The energy sector
of European nations has been undergoing a
delicate phase since the coronavirus outbreak
owing to the economic slowdown. Most of the power
generating plants remained shut and could not
ramp up as expected to meet the increasing energy
demand across the continent. As per the figures
released by Eurostat, in 2020, the gross energy
production across the European countries was
2,781 TWh, which dropped by 4.2 percent compared
with 2019 statistics. The deteriorated situation
of the energy sector has been worsened post the
Russia-Ukraine military combat initiated in
February 2022. Europe is reliant on Russia to
fulfil natural gas demand, and the gas is being
supplied from Russia to Western Europe since
2011 through the worlds biggest single pipeline,
North Streamline 1. However, after the sanctions
imposed by Western states including the UK and
Germany against Russian states and their
businesses operating globally, the continent
retaliated by curtailing the supply of natural
gas, which powers heat buildings and several
gigantic power-generating plants, skyrocketing
European gas prices to over 10-folds their
average historical values. Europe can transform
this grave problem of fuel shortage into a golden
opportunity by switching its key source of
energy. EU has been one of the leading
contributors to mitigating the problem of global
warming by imposing stringent regulations on
industries, vehicles, residential, and
commercial buildings, etc. to restrict carbon
emissions. Thats why, the nation has opted for
natural gas to light skyscrapers and power
elongated manufacturing units established across
the states, as it is considered the cleanest
fossil fuel. In 2020, renewable energy sources
held the major share in the overall energy
production across the continent by generating
1,086 TWh of electricity, which was more than
1,012 TWh of electricity collectively generated
through all the fossil fuels including coal,
natural gas, and manufactured gas, according to
the stats published by europa.eu. Moreover, the
hard coal consumption by Europe in the year 2021
has likely to be reached 160 million tonnes,
almost 27 percent less than in 2017. Green
hydrogen can emerge as a revolutionary source for
the EU energy industry due to diversified
reasons, which include its ubiquitous
accessibility, convenient storage, effective
decarbonization ability, carbon-free, quick
dispersive property (for safety measures), high
energy efficiency, etc. Conversely, there are
certain challenges, which European energy sector
has to deal with before commercializing green
hydrogen as a leading source of power. Some of
the problems associated with green hydrogen
include its extremely low density, significantly
high production cost, metal embrittlement
property, need for a novel infrastructure for
gas supply distribution, ineffective
liquefaction, and need for designing launching
a markedly different segment of the automotive
sector including an exclusive gas turbine
robust fuel storage, etc.
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Green hydrogen production is an exorbitant
process, costing 3.50 to 6 per kilogram,
according to a published study in Nature Climate
Change journal. In addition, over 50 percent of
the total energy generated by hydrogen combustion
is consumed in creating and compressing it,
hence left with half of its efficiency. Compared
to natural gas production, green hydrogen costs
around three-fold owing to the expensive process
of electrolysis. Based on the numbers released
on the official web portal of the European Union
(EU), the average price of electricity being
levied by the EU to household customers is
0.2367 per kWh. Considering the equivalent
tariffs, the average cost for green
hydrogen-fueled electricity would be around 0.7
per kWh. Europe is now taking every step heading
toward energy transition. In July 2020, the
European Commission (EC) published its hydrogen
strategy for a climate-neutral Europe, which not
only comprises a detailed work plan for the
establishment but also includes the scale-up of
value chains based on green hydrogen production.
Furthermore, to curb the energy crisis and
climate change, Ursula von Der Leyen, President
of EC, announced on September 14, 2022, to
establish a new European Hydrogen Bank aimed to
build a robust pipeline of investment, thereby
connecting future supply and demand. Ingenious
e-Brain Solutions (IEBS) anticipates that
regulatory frameworks of various countries are
focused on promoting the CO2 valorization and
usage of green hydrogen, which are prerequisites
for e-fuels such as renewable methanol,
methanol-to-X, green ammonia, etc. Stronger
international cooperation is a key lever to
accelerating the adoption of green hydrogen.
IEBS analysts expect that green hydrogen will
play a vital role in the net-zero emissions
scenario and energy transitions that will be a
significant impact on the value chain across the
industries and end-user. Green hydrogen is one of
the key focus areas of European countries as
their ambition is to accelerate the adoption of
green hydrogen. Click here to get better
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