Producing hydrogen from renewables already profitable, researchers say

Producing hydrogen from renewable energy is already cost-competitive in niche markets and likely to be competitive in industrial-scale applications within a decade, according to a study in Nature Energy. Gunther Glenk of the Technical University of Munich and Stefan Reichelstein of the University of Mannheim and Stanford Business School modeled energy markets in Germany and Texas. They concluded that if recent trends persist, and with certain regulatory changes or incentives, the production of hydrogen using renewable electricity to drive a power-to-gas process could be an attractive investment sooner than expected. Power-to-gas refers to the production of synthetic hydrogen from renewable energy, which can then be used as a carbon-neutral replacement for natural gas in heating and transport. Experts say synthetic gas could play a major role in meeting climate targets, but the process has long been considered too expensive for widespread use.