From the USA to the European Union, major economies around the globe are developing plans to shift away from fossil fuels to low- and zero-carbon technologies.
It is a colossal task that will require huge sums of cash, huge political will and technological innovation. Because the planned transformation takes shape, there may be a variety of talk in regards to the link between hydrogen and natural gas.
During a panel discussion moderated by CNBC’s Joumann Bercetche on the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, the CEO of an energy company AES offered his view on how the 2 could potentially work together in the longer term.
“I feel very confident in saying that we’d like natural gas for the subsequent 20 years,” said Andrés Gluski, speaking on Wednesday. “Now what we will start doing today is … start mixing it with green hydrogen,” he added.
“So we’re doing tests that can be blended up to, say, 20% in existing turbines, and recent turbines are coming in that can burn … much higher percentages,” Gluski said.
“But it surely’s just hard to see in the event you’ll have enough green hydrogen to replace it in the subsequent 10 years.”
Produced using electrolysis and renewable energy sources reminiscent of wind and solar, green hydrogen has several well-known supporters.
These include German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, who called it “some of the necessary technologies for a climate-neutral world” and “key to decarbonising our economies.”
While some are very excited in regards to the potential of green hydrogen, it still accounts for a tiny fraction of worldwide hydrogen production. Today, the overwhelming majority relies on fossil fuels, which runs counter to net-zero emissions goals.
Changes along the way in which, but scale is essential
The planet’s green hydrogen sector should be in a comparatively early stage of development, but there have been plenty of major deals on this technology in recent years.
For instance, in December 2022, AES i aviation products said they plan to invest around $4 billion to develop a “great green hydrogen factory” positioned in Texas.
According to the announcement, the project will include roughly 1.4 gigawatts of wind and solar energy and will be able to produce greater than 200 tons of hydrogen per day.
Despite the numerous financial outlays and renewable energy involved within the project, the pinnacle of AES Gluski made every effort to emphasize how much work awaits to scale up all the sector.
He explained that the ability, planned in partnership with Air Products, could “supply just one percent of the U.S. long-haul truck fleet.” Then work to be done.
High hopes, with key collaboration
Along with Gluski, Elizabeth Gaines, a non-executive director of the mining giant, appeared on the World Economic Forum Fortescue Metals Group.
“We consider that green hydrogen probably plays crucial role within the energy transition,” she said.
Extending the discussion, Gaines also mentioned the necessity for collaboration in the approaching years.
As for “resources needed to support the green transition and the like[ly] for the production of green hydrogen,” she argued that there was a necessity for “close cooperation with government and regulators.”
“I mean, saying we’d like more lithium, we’d like more copper is one thing, but you’ll be able to’t do that without getting permits, and you would like regulatory permits, environmental permits,” she said.
“You already know, this stuff take time, and we would not want that to be a bottleneck within the energy transition, like the abilities and resources we’d like.”
Kivanc Zaimler, president of the energy group at Sabanci Holding, also stressed the importance of being open to recent ideas and innovations.
“We must – we must – embrace, we must welcome, we must support all technologies,” he said. These included each hydrogen and electric vehicles.
Elaborating on his point, Zaimler talked in regards to the need for cooperation, especially when it comes to hydrogen.
“We’d like to get all the best people across the table – scientists, governments, the private sector, players across the worth chain.”
This included “electrolyser production, membranes, green energy producers, users”.