Hydrogen has had a few mentions on the thread, and while being an energy intensive product to produce it has a number of things going for it which will embed into the mix of energy storage for solar & wind power/decarbonising industrial production/possibly domestic heating/cooking (talk already of up to 20% hydrogen being tested in existing domestic gas supplies.) Supplies for private fuel cell vehicles on the road network is not the medium term priority.
As mentioned by Marc the Oil Companies will not go quietly, some like Shell and BP have turned themselves into Energy Companies, and had a bit of a turnaround in the last couple of years, but expect synthetic carbon-neutral fuel to emerge, as well as them turning to producing "Blue Hydrogen" from their Natural GAs via Carbon Capture and Storage, rather than setting fire to the methane an letting the CO2 flow.
One of the latest reported on the EU's recently published Hydrogen Strategy. As indicated below in the initial years transport hardly gets a mention. Hydrogen for energy storage purposes in connection with solar and wind, and decarbonising industrial processes is the primary aim.
NewcastleFalcon wrote: 09 Jul 2020, 12:22
Unlikely that many FCF Members will plough through this but just for the record yesterday the EU did publish the final version of their Hydrogen Strategy.
https://www.h2-view.com/story/eu-unveil ... -strategy/
- Spoiler: show
- Transport is almost an aside, with the objective of the first part of the strategy (2020-24) to decarbonise existing hydrogen production for current uses such as the chemical sector, and promote it for new applications. This phase relies on the installation of at least 6 Gigawatt of renewable hydrogen electrolysers in the EU by 2024 and aims at producing up to one million tonne of renewable hydrogen. In comparison to the current situation, approximately 1 Gigawatt of electrolysers are installed in the EU today.
On transport.....
"In transport, hydrogen is also a promising option where electrification is more difficult. For example in local city buses, commercial fleets or specific parts of the rail network. Heavy-duty vehicles including coaches, special purpose vehicles, and long-haul road freight could also be decarbonised by using hydrogen as a fuel. Hydrogen fuel-cell trains could be extended and hydrogen could be used as a fuel for maritime transport on inland waterways and short-sea shipping.
In the long term, hydrogen can also become an option to decarbonise the aviation and maritime sector, through the production of liquid synthetic kerosene or other synthetic fuels."
That bit about synthetic fuels seems to be contradicted by the final sentence in this paragraph, but you could perhaps see the Car Industry lobbying for "green" synthetic fuels, and continuing to burn them in their vehicles with "similar levels of air pollutant emissions as fossil fuels".
Hydrogen-derived synthetic fuels refer to a variety of gaseous and liquid fuels on the basis of hydrogen and carbon. For synthetic fuels to be considered renewable, the hydrogen part of the syngas should be renewable. Synthetic fuels include for instance synthetic kerosene in aviation, synthetic diesel for cars, and various molecules used in the production of chemicals and fertilisers. Synthetic fuels can be associated with very different levels of greenhouse gas emissions depending on the feedstock and process used. In terms of air pollution, burning synthetic fuels produces similar levels of air pollutant emissions as fossil fuels.
REgards Neil
