Global investment in hydrogen may reach $15 trillion by 2050

Decarbonizing energy and other industries globally using hydrogen will require investment of almost $15 trillion between now and 2050, the Energy Transitions Commission (ETC) said in a report on April 27, Report informs referring to Reuters.

So-called green hydrogen, made by using renewable energy to power electrolysers to convert water, is being backed by many governments for vehicles and energy plants but it is currently too expensive for widespread use.

Proponents say infrastructure investment and more demand from transport, gas grids and industry will bring the costs down.

The ETC said that to reach a globally agreed goal of net zero emissions by mid-century, clean power must be at heart of decarbonizing every sector, and hydrogen will play an important role in decarbonizing industries such as steel and transport.

Hydrogen use is forecast to grow to 500-800 million tons a year by mid-century, accounting for 15-20 percent of total final energy demand, from 115 million tons currently.

Producing green hydrogen will need zero-carbon electricity supply to increase by 30,000 terawatt hours (TWh) by 2050, on top of 90,000 TWh needed for decarbonization generally, the ETC said.

This will require investment of around $15 trillion, peaking in the late 2030s at around $800 billion per annum, not just for hydrogen production but for the electricity system to support the massive increase in hydrogen use.

Around 85 percent of the required investment would be in electricity generation and 15 percent in electrolysers, hydrogen production facilities and transport and storage infrastructure.

Large-scale geological storage will be needed for the hydrogen produced, given the limited capacity and large costs of compressed hydrogen containers.

Salt caverns will offer the lowest cost but if 5 percent of total annual hydrogen use in 2050 needs to be stored, it needs about 4,000 typical size salt caverns, compared with only about 100 in use for natural gas today, the report said.