2023-04-27 06:10:05
The Paris conference held in 2015 led to agreements aimed at reducing the release of greenhouse gases worldwide. One of the main strategic axes to achieve the objectives is to gradually replace fossil fuels with green hydrogen. An evolution that has already begun…
An extract from Mobile and stationary applications of hydrogen in the energy transition by André RAHIER
The cost of dihydrogen obtained by steam reforming of methane varies between 1.5 and 2.5 €/kg. It rises to at least €3.5/kg when nuclear electricity is used to electrolyze water. It increases further to more than €5/kg if the electricity is of wind or photovoltaic origin. Environmental constraints and, mainly, the objectives of reducing the release of greenhouse gases (CO2) require however to aim for the production of green hydrogen by electrolysis of water using renewable energies. This transition will inevitably have to go through a reduction in the price of a kg of green hydrogen, although at the same time, the real cost of the energies currently used continues to increase when the impact on the environment is taken into account.
Hydrogen: towards large-scale production?
According to the French Association for Hydrogen and Fuel Cells, global dihydrogen production was 60 Mt/year in 2014 and rose to 74 Mt/year in 2018. slightly depending on the sources of information. It can be said with certainty that in 2020, dihydrogen was either produced on demand with a view to carrying out the synthesis of other chemical agents (ammonia, methanol, light hydrocarbons), or obtained as a by-product of the synthesis of soda and chlorine or carbon gasification. The production of hydrogen by electrolysis of water currently remains very marginal and represents only 4% of total production.
To cover current consumption with hydrogen, the annual worldwide production of this new energy vector should be increased to 880 Mt/year, i.e. approximately 15 times more than the current total worldwide production capacity, and 367 times more than the current global production capacity by water electrolysis. As for the electrical power required, assuming that the efficiency of electrolysis is at least 70%, we would have to consume 4.8 TW, or approximately 13 times the nuclear electrical power installed in the world in 2015. These figures are even very optimistic, because they do not take into account the demographic evolution and the energy demand which will take place during the period necessary to carry out the transition. For information, in 2019, the photovoltaic electrical power used in the world was estimated at 0.06 TW…
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