Tuesday 8 December 2020

New industry initiative aims to halve the price of hydrogen by 2026

A new industry initiative aims to halve the price of hydrogen by 2026 to help decarbonise the most carbon-intensive industries and deliver net zero.

The Green Hydrogen Catapult initiative's founding partners include ACWA Power, CWP Renewables, Envision, Iberdrola, Ørsted, Snam, and Yara - together, they hope to drive down the cost of green hydrogen to below $2 (£1.50) per kilogram through stepping up its production 50-fold over the next six years.

Green hydrogen is produced by using renewable energy to power electrolysis, a process that splits water into hydrogen and oxygen.

The Green Hydrogen Catapult suggests deploying 25GW of renewables-based hydrogen production by 2026 could allow sectors such as power generation, chemicals, steelmaking and shipping to drastically reduce their emissions.

The organisations involved believe the price point of $2 (£1.50) per kilogram represents a potential tipping point for adoption of the green fuel.

Paddy Padmanathan, CEO of ACWA Power, said: "Having led the race to deliver photovoltaic energy at well-below US$2 cents per kilowatt-hour, in certain geographies, we believe the collective ingenuity and entrepreneurship of the private sector can deliver green hydrogen at less than US$2 per kilogram within four years.

"From an industry perspective, we see no technical barriers to achieving this, so it’s time to get on with the virtuous cycle of cost reduction through scale-up."