POWER July 2020 - 39

HYDROGEN
is why when considering the fuel needs
for light-duty transport, cost and performance
of hydrogen-fueled vehicles
should be compared with battery-based
electric vehicles (EVs).
There are far more EV models available
today, and for some consumers, it is
a great plus to be able to recharge their
cars at home. However, cars powered by
green hydrogen are superior when looking
at both recharging times and driving
range. For example, less than 1 kg of
hydrogen is needed to drive 100 kilometers
with a medium-sized car, and fueling
takes only three to five minutes. This
speed is especially attractive for emergency
vehicles or taxis that cannot afford
to waste too much time charging.
Even more important is the mediumand
heavy-duty transport sector, where
green hydrogen is the most promising
zero-emission fuel. Hydrogen's low
weight, long driving range, and fast recharging
is especially relevant for heavyduty
vehicles and trains.
However, rather than cost per liter, a
more relevant calculation is total cost of
ownership (TCO). In its report " Path to hydrogen
competitiveness: A cost perspective, "
the Hydrogen Council expects that the
TCO per vehicle will fall by about 45% compared
to current costs at a manufacturing
scale of about 600,000 vehicles per year.
For green hydrogen to meet these
price points there are three primary challenges
that must be overcome: the cost
of electricity, the loading factor of the
electrolyzer plant, and the capital and
operational costs. These are dependent
on a variety of factors, some outside the
control of the producer, such as the cost
of electricity, but with renewable energy
becoming a larger part of the energy
mix, that factor should take care of itself.
When it comes to capital cost, as with
most process manufacturing scenarios,
it depends on scale and commercialization
of the electrolyzer plant to reduce
cost of purchase. As to the operational
cost, electrolyzer plant digital twins can
be used to optimize the design and to
improve the productivity, while maximizing
the plant's lifecycle. In areas that
have advantageous conditions, costs to
produce green hydrogen could already
be about €3 per kg.
Depending on the application, green
hydrogen can be purified and compressed
to levels needed for direct use,
storage, or distribution. If storage and
transportation is required, there are several
options. It can be stored in tanks as
a compressed gas or as a liquid, stored
July 2020 | POWER
in caverns, or in the natural gas grid for
different applications and if the grid fulfills
all technological requirements.
When it comes to transportation the
two main methods for transporting hydrogen
are tankers for road transportation
and via gas pipelines for short and medium
distances, depending on the specific
customer use case. When looking at
large-scale applications in the hundreds
of MW or even GW-scale, it makes the
most sense to locate the production near
the renewable generation facilities, such
as on- and offshore wind parks at locations
with very favorable wind resources.
This is because the cost of electricity is
the major input factor for green hydrogen,
comprising more than 70% of the production
cost. Because hydrogen is costly
to transport, these locations typically require
a further synthesis process to green
methanol or ammonia, which can easily
be transported-these are goods traded
globally. This can be perceived as a green
hydrogen export business.
Achieving Market Penetration
The power sector is often seen as a
prime target for using green hydrogen
to power turbines, but as the share in
global CO2
emissions of the power sector
is less than 40%, it is vital that it
penetrates other sectors as well. Today,
there is probably no economically viable
business case for producing hydrogen
specifically for having it re-electrified directly
afterward in a hydrogen-capable
gas turbine-and efficiency wise, today
it would not make sense either, because
there are more applications with
higher CO2
reduction potential at lower
total cost. But for pilot applications or in
a vastly decarbonized world, to further
decarbonize the power sector, beyond
what can be achieved by installing more
renewables, green hydrogen can realize
long-term, seasonal power-to-power
storage on a large scale.
Re-electrification will be achieved in
hydrogen-capable gas turbines, engines,
or fuel cells to provide security of electricity
supply in periods of low renewable energy
supply, such as lack of wind. This use
case will become attractive in the mid- to
longer-term. It is not an either-or situation,
hydrogen (in cars and trucks) can help to
decarbonize the mobility sector, decarbonize
the industry sector (for example in steel
production), and the power sector later.
More than half of global emissions
come from industry, transport, or the
built environment, so solutions need to
be offered to decarbonize those sectors.
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Traditional
renewable
energy
sources
such as wind, solar, and hydro will play
their part, but there is also a significant
role for hydrogen produced from renewable
energy and water, whether used
directly or combined with chemicals to
create green methanol and green ammonia.
These chemicals can be stored,
transported, and used in all kinds of sectors
as synthetic fuel or fertilizer.
There is keen attention on the transportation
sector
and there are signs
that it could be among the early adopters,
especially when it comes to buses,
trucks, and trains. Hydrogen fuel cells
are already being used for regional trains,
which will replace diesel-powered engines.
In China, South Korea, and Japan,
there is promising growth in cars with hydrogen
fuel cells and electric drive trains
in cars. In this region, it has been helped
by research funding that has increasingly
focused on fuel cells instead of batteries.
Also, German original equipment manufacturers
(OEMs), which are intensively
focused on batteries, are developing cars
and trucks with fuel cells.
There was a time over the past decade
when several automotive OEMs
were looking into both fuel cell and EVs,
some of them prioritizing fuel cells. The
cost of developing two revolutionary
concepts in parallel may have driven
some to focus mainly on EVs, but now
OEMs are returning to the idea of fuel
cells. It seems that they are beginning
to understand the challenges and limitations
of batteries in vehicles.
New development is also being seen
in China, where in recent years EVs
were supported massively, bringing high
growth to the industry. The " Ten Cities,
Thousand Vehicles " program that propelled
EVs in China is being replicated
now for hydrogen transport in cities such
as Beijing, Shanghai, and Chengdu.
Going forward, green hydrogen will
command a premium price when compared
to its less environmentally friendly
hydrogen counterparts-blue and grey.
The early stages of any technology curve
must have some support, much as was
seen in the early days of wind and solar
power. But in the medium- to longrun,
hydrogen must and will stand on its
own legs and be viable without external
support. When exactly that will happen,
depends on several factors, including the
adoption rate, economies of scale, and
the regulatory frameworks. ■
-Armin Schnettler, PhD is executive vice
president and CEO of the New Energy
Business at Siemens Energy.
39
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POWER July 2020

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