DUBAI: Interest in clean hydrogen is rising across the globe, as countries explore ways to decarbonize, a new World Energy Council report showed.
Hydrogen could account for between 6 percent and 25 percent of global energy consumption by 2050, according to the publication titled Hydrogen on the Horizon: ready, almost set, go?.
Different regions play a role in the current hydrogen energy transition, the report said, with countries in the Middle East and North Africa focusing on the supply side.
Saudi Arabia, in July, unveiled plans for a $5 billion green hydrogen facility – the world’s largest such project at the time. Other Middle East countries, including the UAE, Oman and Egypt have also announced major projects to exploit the expected demand.
An earlier report by Dii Desert Energy and Roland Berger said the Gulf region alone could create a $200 billion green hydrogen industry by 2050.
The region also benefits from its strategic geographic location being between the European and Asian markets, which the World Energy Council report described as demand-focused markets.
Different countries also have different ideas of how to utilize clean hydrogen, the report said.
Asia shows a greater focus on hydrogen as a liquid fuel in the form of ammonia, and as a fuel for shipping and road transport, while Europe wants to use hydrogen to decarbonize hard-to-abate sectors such as heavy industries and mass transportation.
“How countries want to produce and consume clean energy, and their immediate national priorities, will shape large-scale hydrogen development and end-user uptake,” Angela Wilkinson, Secretary General and CEO of the World Energy Council said.
It is important to identify user priorities to “better understand hydrogen’s real potential,” she said.
Jeroen van Hoof, global energy, utilities, and resources leader at PwC said this decade is crucial to develop hydrogen projects – including infrastructure to produce, import, distribute and use hydrogen at a large scale.
“If we do this successfully over the next few years, it can pave the way for hydrogen demand to grow exponentially beyond 2030,” he added.
But the report identified several challenges in this global endeavor, including concerns on the cost of low-carbon hydrogen, which is still more expensive than other energy sources.
The report said countries need to collaborate to create a global value chain and unlock the potential of hydrogen for the global economy.
