Green Hydrogen: The Key to a Low-Carbon Future

💡Why is it important? (The problem)

“Hydrogen is the key element of success”, “hydrogen is the solution for the climate change”, “it is a game-changer in the energy transition”, etc. We have recently been hearing many similar statements about the high capability of hydrogen as a valuable chemical in the energy transition and as a solution for decarbonising many industrial processes.

So why is hydrogen (specifically green hydrogen) important? How is it produced? What are the uses of hydrogen? Is it worth it economically? All these questions will be answered in this article. I wish you all an insightful and enjoyable reading 😊.

For centuries, the world has been relying heavily on fossil fuels, like coal, oil, and natural gas, as major sources of both energy and feedstock in different industrial applications. This reliance on fossil fuels is linked to serious environmental and health issues due to the release of carbon emissions and other harmful pollutants like nitrogen oxides and sulfur oxides, which contribute to air pollution and climate change. Therefore, the global community is looking for environmentally friendly options, and hydrogen has emerged as a promising candidate because it is the most abundant element in the universe, and it does not produce any carbon emissions when used as a fuel.

🔌The applications

One of the major uses of hydrogen in the energy sector is using hydrogen fuel cells, which are devices generating electricity to power cars. These devices generate electricity through the reaction of only oxygen and hydrogen gases, where only water is produced. No smoke, no carbon emissions, just clean energy!

Beyond the energy use, hydrogen is a valuable chemical which is useful in decarbonising hard-to-abate industrial applications including fertiliser production, steelmaking, methanol production, and petroleum refining. However, most of the hydrogen produced nowadays (named as grey hydrogen) is mostly generated using the steam methane reforming reaction, followed by the water gas-shift process, both of which release a large amount of carbon emissions. This is creating an urgent need for cleaner hydrogen-production methods.

🌱The green alternative

Green hydrogen refers to the hydrogen produced at low pressure and temperature through the water electrolysis process, where water is split into hydrogen and oxygen gases using only electricity generated by renewable energy sources such as solar and wind. This ensures zero carbon emissions.

Industrially, the green hydrogen is generated using a device called an electrolyzer, where the hydrogen and oxygen gases are produced at two different chambers typically separated by a diaphragm or an ion exchange membrane. Many companies are already active in the market, including Thyssenkrupp Nucera AG & Co. KGaA, Siemens Energy, Cockerill Jingli Hydrogen, Enapter, and Hygreen Energy, and others.

📈Hydrogen’s bright future: market growth and forecast

The worldwide market size of hydrogen is growing rapidly with an estimated value of $7.98 billion in 2024, and potentially reaching $60.56 billion by 2030, with a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 38.5% from 2025 to 2030.

This is because over 40 governments have already adopted hydrogen strategies and many companies have committed decarbonisation targets. There are several large-scale projects announced over the last five years for green hydrogen production. The Western Green Energy Hub project, located at Western Australia, is planned to become one of the world’s largest project for green hydrogen production with a capacity of 70 GW, producing around 4 million tonnes of green hydrogen per year. The NEOM Green Hydrogen Company (NGHC), located at Oxagon in Saudi Arabia’s region of NEOM, on the other hand will be operating on a capacity of around 4 GW of renewable electricity, generated from over 250 wind turbines and 5.6 million solar panels.

💰Is it economically viable?

Now, we are all aware of the benefits and importance of green hydrogen, but is it economically worth it?

First let’s have an idea of the production costs of green hydrogen, which range from $3.50 to $7.00 per kg. But the good news is that the price could drop to half by 2030 and even fall to only 25% of today’s prices by 2050, thanks to the government initiatives and cheaper renewable electricity.

However, when the storage and distribution of green hydrogen are considered, the final cost of green hydrogen for end users, such as heavy industry or trucking, is higher than what most people think, limiting its economic viability.

If we consider how tiny and lightweight a hydrogen molecule is (as a matter of fact it is the smallest and lightest molecule in the universe), it would be easy to rationalise why storing and transporting are challenging, as it is a gas at room temperature. That’s why hydrogen is usually either compressed or liquefied by cooling it to −253 °C (that’s as expensive as it sounds!).

Luckily, cheaper storing methods do exist. One important method involves converting the hydrogen to ammonia, which is much easier to store and ship than the tiny hydrogen molecule. The conversion can be done by reacting nitrogen gas (extracted from air) with hydrogen gas, a process called the Haber-Bosch process. We can talk the feasibility of this in another article 😊.

🧠My final thoughts

There is no doubt of the importance of finding alternatives for fossil fuels or at least mitigating our reliance on fossil fuel in the “hard-to-abate” sectors. The green hydrogen produced through the water splitting process is a promising candidate for the zero-carbon energy transition.

And yes, there are many challenges related to the use of hydrogen, mainly related to the costs of its production, storage, and distribution, but these can be overcome through the support of governments, reducing the costs of renewable energy, and improving the storage and transportation technologies. So it is all about smart investment, focused innovation, and collaboration between governments and industry.

Finally, right now, less than 1% of the hydrogen produced is green. So instead of trying to use it in many applications in different sectors, decision makers should shift their focus to producing more green hydrogen. Another focus should be to use green hydrogen in industrial applications, where hydrogen is considered as a valuable and indispensable chemical. For example, in fertiliser production, refining petroleum, and methanol production, where hydrogen is the driving chemical to make it all work.

Thank you for reading the article, and until the next time.

Abdulhai H. Faqeeh