Post of 13-03-2021
The world started looking for alternative to fossils fuel since the Middle East started using oil as a wealth and weapon after Yom Kippur war of 1973. Green hydrogen via “electrolysis” has been seen as potential alternative for oil and gas but high costs prevented further research.
After 2015 Paris climate agreement “green hydrogen” with renewable energy projects became a great hope for the future. At present “green hydrogen” accounts for only 1 percent of world energy supply.
ITM Power company in Sheffield (UK) is a leader in the world which manufactures Electrolysers. Currently, ITM Power is a £2.6bn company providing equipment to petrochemicals and steel industries for green hydrogen.
Recently, hope for “green hydrogen” with renewable energy (Wind and Solar energy) is gaining ground. Europe is expecting investment of $300bn in this sector. But others argue that producing green hydrogen via electrolysis is inefficient way of using renewable energy. They found there is 30% energy loss during the breaking of the chemical bond between oxygen and hydrogen. In future, green energy for Paris Agreement (2015) will reach price parity with that of energy produced from fossil fuels such as Aramco’s green hydrogen.
Saudi Arabia has produced “blue ammonia” from fossil fuels and transported its first shipment to Japan in September 2020 to produce electricity. It also recently signed an agreement with South Korea to supply blue ammonia in the future to use for power generation.
(This Post is based on the article of Financial Times, London dated 9th March 2021 by Nathalie Thomas, David Sheppard, and Neil Hume. Or go to ft.com/climate).
