Hydrogen Economy Offers Promise for Electric Utilities
The so-called hydrogen economy could unleash a plethora of benefits for electric utilities of all shapes and sizes. Hydrogen, which can help reduce carbon emissions, can already be transported and stored thanks to thousands of miles of hydrogen pipelines in operation across the U.S. Unfortunately, despite the existing infrastructure, the path for utilities to leverage and exploit the hydrogen economy is anything but clear.
Why Electric Utilities Have Yet to Exploit the Hydrogen Economy
About 9 million tons of hydrogen are produced in the U.S. each year, via coal gasification, natural gas steam processes, fossil fuel carbon capture, and electrolysis powered by renewables. And this produced hydrogen, thanks to the existing robust pipeline and trucking infrastructure throughout the U.S., could be transported for use by electric utilities. However, at the moment just about all of it is used to refine petroleum, produce chemicals and fertilizer, treat metals, and for other industrial purposes.
So, how exactly could utilities use hydrogen? Initially, the clearest use case appears to be energy storage, particularly for renewable energy, albeit in an unconventional manner. This would allow utilities to leverage wind and solar as a 24/7 dispatchable energy source.
Additionally, hydrogen could play a large role in the expansion of the EV market by making the battery storage technology more efficient. Similarly, fuel cell trucks are already in operation and some manufacturers are working to create hydrogen versions of these vehicles.
This will be important for electric utilities because the hydrogen for these vehicles would probably be generated via solar or wind sources, and perhaps even nuclear sources as well. The key difference compared to “typical” electric utility operations is that this generated hydrogen would be transported via pipeline, not via the T&D infrastructure.
So, what’s holding back the market? The answer is money. Although the hydrogen economy offers the promise of clean and efficient energy, the cost necessary to fortify the infrastructure to make it available to the masses is prohibitive. I do believe it will happen, but it will take years of investment to make it a reality.
