IEA recommends ways to boost the use of hydrogen

IEA’s report ‘The Future of Hydrogen’ focuses on the fact that it can play a crucial role in a clean, secure and affordable energy future. Thus, the report aims to analyse the current role of hydrogen and offer guidance on its future development.

Specifically, the report informed that hydrogen can help tackle various challenges of today, since:

1. It offers ways to decarbonize a range of sectors – including long-haul transport, chemicals, and iron and steel – where it is proving difficult to meaningfully reduce emissions.
2. It can also help improve air quality and strengthen energy security.
3. Hydrogen is versatile. Today’s technologies enable hydrogen to produce, store, move and use energy in different ways.
4. Hydrogen can enable renewables to provide an even greater contribution.
5. Hydrogen and hydrogen-based fuels can transport energy from renewables over long distances – from regions with abundant solar and wind resources, such as Australia or Latin America, to energy-hungry cities thousands of kilometres away.

Moreover, the report highlighted that hydrogen can be used widely, meaning that it also need to be adopted in sectors where it is almost absent today, such as transport, buildings and power generation.

Yet, the widespread use of hydrogen in global energy transitions faces challenges, as:

1. Its production is costly at the moment.
2. Its development is slow.
3. Its almost entirely supplied by natural gas and coal.
4. Regulations currently limit the development of a clean hydrogen industry.

In light of the above, IEA presents its recommendations to boost hydrogen:

• Establish a role for hydrogen in long-term energy strategies
• Stimulate commercial demand for clean hydrogen.
• Address investment risks of first-movers.
• Support R&D to bring down costs.
• Eliminate unnecessary regulatory barriers and harmonise standards.
• Engage internationally and track progress.
• Focus on four key opportunities to further increase momentum over the next decade:

1. Make the most of existing industrial ports to turn them into hubs for lower-cost, lower-carbon hydrogen.
2. Use existing gas infrastructure to spur new clean hydrogen supplies.
3. Support transport fleets, freight and corridors to make fuel-cell vehicles more competitive.
4. Establish the first shipping routes to kick-start the international hydrogen trade.

Concluding, you can find the report here.