Hydrogen
Utility regulators rejected renewable natural gas and hydrogen as climate solutions, and ordered gas utilities to align their investments with climate laws. That may force gas utilities towards electrification.
Hydrogen development plans are making headway in Singapore and the new fuel has been called “low carbon” but Singapore’s hydrogen strategy is still opaque and it’s unclear to what extent it might contribute to decarbonization.
The U.S. grants for several blue “hydrogen hub” concepts risk promoting a dirty and expensive technology, critics say. But upcoming hydrogen subsidy rules could still build a cleaner green hydrogen industry.
Rising sea levels and intensifying hurricanes underline the urgency of transforming Caribbean energy systems, which are oil-based, costly and vulnerable.
A hydrogen pipeline from Gulf countries to Europe might represent one of the most cost competitive options on the table amid targets to import 10 million tonnes of the fuel to Europe by 2030 as part of energy transition targets, experts said.
Loopholes for ‘hydrogen-ready’ systems means the phase-out of gas heaters in Germany could take longer than many had hoped.
Cooperation on hydrogen stemming from the new France-UK energy deal would benefit transport infrastructure and promote trade, say experts.
Some policymakers are promising that gas and LNG infrastructure will be used for hydrogen in the future. But “hydrogen-ready” claims are misleading, and risk undermining climate targets.
Deepening political and social unrest in Peru, a major LNG exporter, are deepening delays to the country’s energy transition.
Cepsa said it will invest US$3 billion in Spain in what is set to become Europe’s largest green hydrogen production hub and which industry sources see as a significant step towards establishing the economic viability of this resource.
Hydrogen is a strategic pillar in the energy transition plans of state-controlled Ecopetrol in Colombia and now the firm is exploring the potential of the “white” variety.
Uruguay is the latest South American country to unveil a green hydrogen roadmap, but unlike some other aspiring producers and exporters of the emerging resource, the government has not yet relinquished plans to drill for oil and gas.
Gold hydrogen is garnering attention in Australia as a potential competitor to blue and even green hydrogen, but critics say that gold hydrogen comes with considerable methane emissions and may not be volumetrically significant.
The war in Ukraine seems set to accelerate clean hydrogen development in the EU, in line with the bloc’s increased targets for hydrogen uptake, but the nascent industry still has considerable challenges to overcome.
Plans for large-scale green hydrogen blending using existing natural gas infrastructure is at best a “highly inefficient solution for power generation and heating,” according to the Energy Innovation paper.