The World Energy Council, in collaboration with EPRI and PwC, aims to provide a better understanding of hydrogen development worldwide for the energy community, building on the expertise and experience of its global network. In this context, we published a new Innovation Insights Briefing on Hydrogen in July 2021, seeking to start a multi-stakeholder, multi-level community dialogue on hydrogen’s role in energy transitions.
Our work has identified the following 4 areas for further discussion:
Significant divergences are emerging across countries and regions, as national hydrogen strategies reveal varying attitudes towards hydrogen’s role in energy transitions. This signals a need to embrace diversity – eliminating a one size fits all mindset – and enable differing technologies and use cases to be explored.
Confusion over ‘colours’ is stifling innovation, with over-simplification and colour prejudice risking the premature exclusion of some technological routes that could potentially be more cost- and carbon-effective. There is a need for further dialogue which looks beyond colour to also explore carbon equivalence.
Demand-centric hydrogen perspectives are needed to advance the Humanising Energy agenda. The current hydrogen conversation focuses heavily on supply, ignoring the role of hydrogen users. Discussions must explore what’s needed to trigger demand, with a specific focus on the development of hydrogen infrastructure and a global supply chain.
The hydrogen economy could stimulate job creation and economic growth, potentially helping to fulfil ‘build forward together’ ambitions post-COVID-19. Several national hydrogen strategies highlight jobs as an important driver of hydrogen development, with opportunities to reskill the existing workforce and upskill a new workforce.
To help inform the dialogue on these 4 topics, we are releasing 3-part series working papers for the hydrogen road builders, providing additional insights on:
National Hydrogen Strategies;
Inputs From Senior Leaders On Hydrogen Developmen ts;
Hydrogen Demand And Cost Dynamics.
This Working Paper presents inputs from senior energy leaders on hydrogen and critical issues that are emerging related to hydrogen development. This Working Paper builds upon interviews with 38 experts from 23 countries, reflecting 61 % of the global Total Primary Energy Supply - TPES (2018 data, OECD) and 70% of global GDP (2019 data, WB).