Green hydrogen could be most economical in locations that have the optimal combination of abundant renewable resources, space for solar or wind farms, and access to water, along with the capability to export to large demand centres. Some existing natural gas pipelines, with technical modification, could be repurposed to carry hydrogen.Ĭountries with an abundance of low-cost renewable power could become producers of green hydrogen, with commensurate geoeconomic and geopolitical consequences. In addition, hydrogen can facilitate transport of the energy renewables produce over longer distances via pipelines and shipping, thus unlocking untapped renewable resources in remote locations. Renewables can be deployed in every country, and renewable electricity can be exported to neighbouring countries via transmission cables.
With the costs of renewable energy falling, but those of transporting hydrogen high, the emerging geopolitical map is likely to show growing regionalisation in energy relations. Hydrogen is likely to influence the geography of energy trade, further regionalising energy relations. Majority of this would be produced using renewables, with the rest from gas and carbon capture and storage. IRENA’s 1.5☌ scenario envisages that clean hydrogen 1 could meet up to 12% of final energy consumption by 2050.
The climate change imperative has been the main driver of the renewed policy focus on hydrogen.
Hydrogen, until now the missing piece of the clean energy puzzle, is likely to further disrupt energy value chains in coming years. The central question this report addresses is whether and to what extent hydrogen exacerbates or mitigates these disruptions and in what ways.
This transition is not a fuel replacement it is a shift to a different system with commensurate political, technical, environmental, and economic disruptions. Renewables, in combination with energy efficiency, now form the leading edge of a far-reaching global energy transition. The ongoing energy transition is unprecedented due to its scale and the profound impact on the established socio-economic, technological, and geopolitical trends around the world.