Shuaib Bahman
Over recent years, the global determination has become firmer than ever for the generation of renewables. Most developed and even developing nations are largely inclined to supplant renewables for oil and gas. What further motivates nations to develop renewables is environmental concerns and global warming, blamed mainly on fossil energies.
Investment in renewables is not limited to oil and gas consumers as many fossil energy producers are also concerned.For instance, over recent years, Arab nations’shift from oil to green hydrogen has been so tangible that some see the Persian Gulf as the future exporter of clean energy. Several Arab nations including Egypt, Oman, the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Algeria, and Morocco have embarked on new ambitious projects for green hydrogen production in recent years. These projects are indicative of the daily growing significance of the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) in global green hydrogen production and export.
Towards Green Hydrogen
A variety of estimates is given about green hydrogen production. According to the International Energy Agency (IEA), although green hydrogen projectshave led to a big jump in low-carbon hydrogen production in the world, the number of projects should increase at least nine-fold for the country to move towards zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. The current perspectives show that low-carbon hydrogen production may reach 17 million tonnes by 2030, which is currently less than 1 million tonnes. However, for carbon neutrality, the IEA has fixed a 150-million-tonne target by 2030.
Despite all the shortcomings in green hydrogen production, some believe that the oil and gas industry is close to a major development as it is likely to be eliminated from the energy mix. Some oil producers are moving towards hydrogen production, indicating their long-term strategy for the period following the exhaustion of fossil energies.
Europe’s long-term approach vis-à-vis clean energies, including hydrogen, is clear. The European Commission in May 2022 presented a fuel scheme aimed at reducing EU nations’ dependence on Russian fossil fuel and finding an alternative clean fuel. In the 20-page document, the word “hydrogen” has been cited 54 times. The EU stresses that green hydrogen can be an alternative to natural gas, coal, and oil in the transport sector where decarbonization is difficult. The EU’s objective is set for the production of 10 million tonnes of renewable hydrogen by 2030. The EU would need €28-38 billion for hydrogen production infrastructure and €6-11 billion for its pipeline and storage.
Green Hydrogen Restrictions
Although some governments firmly keep presenting hydrogen as the solution and clean fuel for the future, despite all its environmental advantages, renewables such as green hydrogen cannot be easily relied on. Green hydrogen would cause technical and financial problems which would in turn give rise to consequences concerning pollution, safety, and efficiency.
First and foremost, the use of green hydrogen requires major investment. This investment is not only limited to the production of green hydrogen or other renewable energies butalso the issue of changing the energy consumption base in large industries is raised, which simply cannot be entered in this field. Because it requires very large investments that currently no country can fundamentally change in this area.
The second point is about the environmental consequences of the mass production of green hydrogen. Although hydrogen is abundant in nature in combination with oxygen in the form of water or the composition of various substances and gases, its separation and extraction to convert it into energy is flammable and therefore, would increase GHG to a large extent.
Another limitation of green hydrogen is its portability, which must be kept under high pressure due to its low weight. Another main limitation of hydrogen is related to poor efficiency. The use of hydrogen in industries requires several changes such as electrolysis, compression or liquefaction, transportation, storage, and conversion. Each of these steps can reduce the efficiency of different industries. Because most of the industries in the world are designed to use fossil energy as the base fuel.
Having said that, despite the widespread acceptance of many countries for the production of clean energy such as green hydrogen, the use of this energy still faces significant limitations. Paying more attention to these restrictions may reduce the competition to produce this type of energy. There have been speculations about the decline in demand for the use of green hydrogen in the world.
Iran Petroleum
