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Green hydrogen is
key to building a net
zero economy
Solar and wind power are important parts of our renewable
energy plans but in the long term, clean hydrogen must be the
focus, says Statkraft’s David Flood
T
he world needs to decarbonise rapidly
if we are to meet our climate targets –
and the extreme floods, heatwaves
and wildfires of the last few years have
highlighted why it is so urgent that we do so.
As the science behind the causes and
impacts of climate change becomes
increasingly certain and stark, governments
are increasing their ambitions from limiting
temperature rises to 2°C to working towards
a 1.5°C target. It is vital to do this to limit the
worst impacts of climate change, but to
achieve it requires a substantial increase both
in political ambitions and in the pace of global
action to cut emissions.
Already, the pace of change in the green
economy is so rapid that it can be hard to
keep up. But a few things are becoming clear.ST
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“ By 2050, there will
be 21 times as much
solar power”
The energy system will become increasingly
electric, and electric power will increasingly
be provided by wind and solar because they
will provide the lowest cost electricity.
Even in the face of the covid-19 pandemic,
inves tment in renewable power rose in 2020.
While total car sales fell, sales of electric
vehicles rose by 40 per cent. By 2050, there
will be 21 times as much solar power and
seven times as much wind c apacit y to mee t
electricity demand, which will itself more
than double during that period.
We are electrifying everything because it is
a more efficient use of energy. A heat pump
uses a third of the energy that a gas boiler
does, for example, while an electric car needs
around a third of the energy of a traditional
car to travel the same distance. And if we’reusing electricity, we can also cut emissions
by making that power renewable.
As the proportion of intermittent and
variable renewables on the network
increases, that network needs to become
increasingly flexible. Where it is available,
hydropower is a great option because it
can be switched off and on at the drop of a
hat. But other types of energy storage,
interconnectors with other markets
and demand-side response will all be
important, too.
Green hydrogen, which uses renewable
electricity to split hydrogen from water, is a
technology whose industrial potential is still
being realised. However, it will come to play
several crucial roles in the future energy
system, including storing energy for long