Regulating Hydrogen: A Primer For Energy Regulators

Hydrogen industry hype has ballooned in recent years with surging policy support and investment plans, owing to its purported climate, industrial competitiveness, and energy security potential. Yet many of these grand ambitions have recently been put at risk, creating confusion around the industry’s growth trajectory—and its implications for electric and gas utilities. We partnered with the Regulatory Energy Transition Accelerator (RETA) to get at the heart of what energy regulators should be thinking about to wrestle with this uncertainty and answer questions about hydrogen regulation. This paper pulls together insights from a collaborative process involving two global workshops and hundreds …

The Colors of Hydrogen Production: Emissions, Costs, and Concerns

Hydrogen is a colorless gas that can be produced through a wide range of methods using a variety of raw materials or “feedstocks,” such as coal, natural gas, and water. Different production processes for hydrogen gas result in distinct byproducts like carbon dioxide, solid carbon, and oxygen. These differing processes are often assigned a color, which aids in quick identification but can obscure details about the emissions and impacts of each process. Understanding the full environmental, economic, and social implications of each type of hydrogen production is crucial in determining its role in the energy landscape.

This 4-page fact sheet …

Realistic Roles for Hydrogen in the Future Energy Transition

Hydrogen has been promoted as a revolutionary fuel for 50 years, yet usage is confined to oil refining and fertilizer production. For hydrogen to advance global decarbonization, many barriers must be overcome. In this perspective, the authors examine the challenges hydrogen faces from production to usage, assessing its environmental and economic credentials, controversies and uncertainties. The authors provide the evidence base for companies and governments to assess clean hydrogen’s current and potential future competitiveness. Fuel cell cars and space heating are among the least promising applications owing to rapid advances in direct electric alternatives. Hydrogen holds potential in industry, long-duration …

Techno-Economic Feasibility Analysis of Hydrogen Refueling Stations for Fuel Cell Vehicles

This study presents a comprehensive economic and technological evaluation of renewable hybrid power systems for hydrogen refueling stations (HRS) in Nizwa, Oman, leveraging cutting-edge optimization algorithms to determine the most cost-effective and efficient hybrid energy system configurations. Three hybrid energy systems of photovoltaic-wind turbine-battery (PV-WT-B), photovoltaic-wind-fuel cell-battery (PV-WT-FC-B), and wind turbine-battery (WT-B) were evaluated based on net present cost (NPC), levelized cost of energy (LCOE), and levelized cost of hydrogen (LCOH). The study employs advanced optimization techniques, including the Mayfly Algorithm, Genetic Algorithm, CUKO Search, Gray Wolf Optimizer (GWO), Constrained Particle Swarm Optimization (CPSO), Harmony Search (HS), and Flower Pollination …

Hydrogen — Made in America, For America

Hydrogen is a strategic economic and energy opportunity to expand America’s industrial base, energy security, and global leadership. Despite good progress made in the past several years, the US hydrogen industry faces headwinds and slow scale up. The more its market lags, the more it risks falling behind other countries actively building markets and securing supply chains.

This report explores the conditions stalling US hydrogen market growth, including weak domestic demand caused by fragmented policies and challenged economics in many domestic offtake sectors. With case studies for hydrogen in exports, on-road mobility, aviation, steel, and maritime shipping, it highlights the …

Blue Hydrogen’s Carbon Capture Boondoggle

Legislators looking for a bipartisan issue should focus on blue hydrogen. IEEFA’s latest analysis shows that the process, which uses methane gas with carbon capture to produce a supposedly cleaner fuel, is a lose-lose proposition that would cost billions of dollars in subsidies for essentially zero environmental benefit. It is an issue that both fiscal conservatives and environmental advocates should agree needs changing.

The focus of this analysis is Air Products’ planned Louisiana Clean Energy Complex (LCEC), one of the largest blue hydrogen projects in development in the U.S. The company says the facility, estimated to cost $7 billion, will …

Europe’s Long Journey to Renewable Hydrogen

The European Union (the EU) has very ambitious targets when it comes to renewable hydrogen development (10 million tonnes to be produced domestically by 2030 and the same amount to be imported). However, the region is very unlikely to reach these targets. The development of domestic renewable hydrogen is slowed by a lengthy permitting process, high costs of renewable hydrogen, the need to develop hydrogen transport infrastructure, and the lack of offtake agreements. The regulatory framework on renewable hydrogen has taken a long time to develop, which has also delayed projects. The regulatory framework is also seen as being stifling, …

Economic and Technical Analysis of Hydrogen Production and Transport: A Case Study of Egypt

This study investigates the economic, technical, and logistical aspects of hydrogen production, with a particular focus on Egypt’s potential to emerge as a global hydrogen leader. The research is motivated by Egypt’s abundant renewable resources, strategic location, and increasing interest in hydrogen as a cornerstone of the energy transition. Using the Hydra simulation model developed in MATLAB/Simulink, the study evaluates the Levelized Cost of Hydrogen (LCOH) and Levelized Supply Costs of Hydrogen (LSCOH) across various scenarios, spanning from 2024 to 2050. These scenarios incorporate factors such as economic growth, technological advancements, energy policies, and infrastructure developments. Projections indicate that the …

Hydrogen: Closing the Cost Gap

Demand for clean hydrogen and its derivatives has taken center stage for decision-makers in industry and government over the past years, where a focus has been on project bankability and catalyzing supply chain development. The lack of demand-side visibility, rising energy and material costs, and prolonged regulatory uncertainty have been key factors inhibiting investment in the sector, in some cases leading to project delays and cancellations.

At the same time, some regions have begun implementing measures that could support the business case for clean hydrogen adoption. While the regulatory landscape is still evolving, this report looks at the current policy …

The Case for Recalibrating Europe’s Hydrogen Strategy

In the five years since the European Commission unveiled its 2020 European Hydrogen Strategy, the European Union’s (EU’s) hydrogen market has captured significant global attention from policymakers and industry stakeholders. By taking the lead in developing a renewable hydrogen industry through progressive policies, targets, and technological innovation, the EU has showcased both the immense potential and the substantial challenges of this transition. Executing this vision has proved difficult, with many early expectations — such as rapid progress, cost reductions, and broad offtake applications — now proven to be overly ambitious or unattainable in the short term.

Kickstarting decarbonization of hard-to-electrify …