An economically-sustainable hydrogen industry could soon be on the cards according to a blueprint released by CSIRO, the national science agency, which found that cost competitiveness is firmly on the horizon.
The National Hydrogen Roadmap sets out a path to develop the action and investment plans required to realise the full benefits of a hydrogen economy. Hydrogen is a clean-burning fuel with a range of uses, from powering vehicles including ships, to storing energy.
Decarbonsation
Hydrogen can service multiple markets and if produced using low-emissions energy sources, will enable deep decarbonisation across the energy and industrial sectors.
Roadmap findings include:
- Hydrogen technologies are reaching maturity, with the narrative now shifting from R&D to market activation.
- Hydrogen could also play a significant role in enabling the further uptake of renewable energy.
- While the benefits are clear, current barriers to market activation include a lack of supporting infrastructure such as hydrogen refuelling stations for transport, and the cost of hydrogen supply for some applications.
- An appropriate policy framework could create a 'market pull' for hydrogen, with investment in infrastructure then likely to follow.
- In or around 2025, clean hydrogen could be cost-competitive with existing industrial feedstocks such as natural gas, and energy carriers such as batteries in many applications.
Csiro is a national science agency in Australia and consulted broadly to develop the Roadmap, which was sponsored by 21 industry and government bodies. The Roadmap can be downloaded from the Csiro website.
Picture: Applications for hydrogen (by Csiro).
