Hydrogen and its competitors, 2004

14Risø Energy Report 3Hydrogen in European and global energy systems3European Commission supports the European HydrogenNetwork (HyNet), which was established in 1999 withthe main objective of bringing together Europeanhydrogen stakeholders from industry, research institutionsand governments. Thus the European Commissionis focusing more and more on the likelihood of a futurehydrogen economy.The IEA has also taken an interest in hydrogen and fuelcells, although to a lesser extent than the EU. The IEA hasset up Hydrogen Program Implementing Agreements,whose main purpose is to co-ordinate ongoing R&Dbetween IEA member countries. These are normally setup on a cost-shared basis and are open to any IEAmember, both OECD and non-OECD, who wishes toparticipate. Implementation agreements exist for bothhydrogen and fuel cells.Long-term visions for the hydrogen societyLong-term challenges, such as climate change, securityof energy supply and depletion of oil resources, requirelong-term solutions. Many politicians and scientistsbelieve that a combination of fuel cells and hydrogeninfrastructure will be a practical way to create an efficient,clean and sustainable energy system within thenext 20-40 years.One of the most ambitious recent initiatives is the InternationalPartnership for the Hydrogen Economy (IPHE,above). Its main goal is “to serve as a mechanism toorganize and implement effective, efficient and focusedinternational research, development, demonstration andcommercial utilization activities related to hydrogen andfuel cell technologies. The IPHE also provides a forum foradvancing policies, and common codes and standardsthat can accelerate the cost-effective transition to aglobal hydrogen economy to enhance energy securityand environmental protection” [8].The EU High Level Group for Hydrogen and Fuel Cells(HLG) has also looked into the possibilities of creating ahydrogen economy in the long term. One of the HLG'sconclusions is [4]:“…hydrogen and electricity together represent one ofthe most promising ways to realise sustainable energy,whilst fuel cells provide the most efficient conversiondevice for converting hydrogen, and possibly other fuels,into electricity. Hydrogen and fuel cells open the way tointegrated 'open energy systems' that simultaneouslyaddress all of the major energy and environmental challenges,and have the flexibility to adapt to the diverseand intermittent renewable energy sources that will beavailable in the Europe of 2030”.Some highlights from the HLG report include:• Hydrogen opens up the possibility of using a broadrange of primary energy sources, including fossil fuels,nuclear and renewable energy.• The combination of the electricity grid and a hydrogensystem, including hydrogen storage, provides flexibilityin balancing conventional and intermittentrenewable energy sources, while hydrogen as an energycarrier makes new energy sources available to the transportsector.• Hydrogen produced from carbon-free or carbonneutralenergy sources can provide significant reductionsin carbon dioxide emissions by replacing fossilenergy sources. This is especially relevant to the transportsector.To support the development of a hydrogen economy, thepartners of the European Hydrogen Energy ThematicNetwork (HyNet) have developed a European HydrogenEnergy Roadmap. The main conclusions from this roadmapare [5]:Hydrogen production: In the short and medium term, technologiesthat are already commercially available – steamreforming and electrolysis – will be vital for the productionof hydrogen, although at a higher cost than conventionalfuels. In the longer term, hydrogen could beproduced at costs that would make it competitive withdiesel and gasoline, based on current predictions foradvances in technology and economies of scale in manufacturing.Hydrogen infrastructure: The costs of transport, storageand refuelling facilities are key obstacles to the hydrogeneconomy. Investment costs and associated risks are high,so a hydrogen infrastructure will require significantcommitment from industry, governments and otherstakeholders. Hydrogen storage is an essential technologythat has the potential to become a bottleneck.Extensive R&D is required to develop innovative storagesolutions.Demand for hydrogen: Small portable applications forhydrogen are expected to enter the market within thenext 2-3 years, and these will help pave the way for largerhydrogen users. Stationary fuel cells, mostly based onnatural gas, are expected to be commercialised before2010. Transport applications will be the main driver forthe development of hydrogen systems, but this marketwill not take off before 2010-2015.Legal requirements, regulations and standards need to be inplace in order to facilitate hydrogen development.Socio-economic issues and government policies are important.Governments have to stimulate R&D and largescaledemonstration projects, while long-term policysupport is needed if hydrogen is to become commerciallysuccessful in a reasonable timescale.Figure 2 shows a possible timeline for the developmentof hydrogen production technologies. Short-termhydrogen development will rely mainly on conventionalfossil fuels, whilst in the very long term technologiescould include photo-biological or photo-electrochemicalconversion processes and thermonuclear conversioncycles. It is clear that a number of initiatives are underway to develop hydrogen systems. A good deal ofresearch is going on, and a number of demonstrationplants have already been established. Nevertheless, high