Green hydrogen is very expensive/ Many companies are canceling projects and cutting investments
Green hydrogen developers are canceling projects and cutting investments around the world, raising the possibility of a longer-than-anticipated reliance on fossil fuels.
Industries that were hard to power, and were seen as ideal candidates for green hydrogen, such as steelmaking and long-distance transportation, have found that switching to the low-carbon fuel seems prohibitively expensive.
"There was a lot of promise, there was a lot of promise all the time. People didn't take into account that hydrogen is great as a chemical, but it's not very good as a fuel," said Peter Schniering, executive director of the German nonprofit Think Thank Future Cleantech Architects.
Many governments have long supported the development of green hydrogen - produced through electrolysis that splits water into hydrogen and oxygen using electricity from renewable sources - to help decarbonize energy, transport and industry.
Countries such as Australia, Britain, Germany and Japan announced ambitious investment strategies that they hoped would drive down costs and eventually create a profitable green hydrogen sector that would no longer need support.
German company Dirostahl, which makes components for wind turbines, ships and oil and gas drilling pipes, depends on natural gas-fired furnaces and is looking for a replacement.
However, green hydrogen is still very expensive. Bids for the fuel do not come below 150 euros per megawatt hour (MWh), while natural gas can be purchased for 30-35 euros/MWh, said Executive Director Roman Diederichs.
Another problem is that hydrogen is difficult to store because it requires high-pressure tanks, extremely low temperatures, and tends to leak, making transportation dangerous through old gas pipelines while new infrastructure is being built.
Prices remain high due to the high cost of electrolyzers needed for large-scale production, infrastructure bottlenecks, and rising energy costs resulting from regulations on what constitutes green hydrogen.
Several European countries have scaled back their ambitions. Italy recently shifted more than €600 million in post-pandemic funding from hydrogen to biomethane. France lowered its 2030 hydrogen electrolysis capacity target by more than 30% in April, and Portugal has cut its electrolysis capacity ambitions by 45%.
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