What is Green Hydrogen and How Can it Support the Renewable Energy Transition?

The transition to a fossil-free future is underway – and green hydrogen is accelerating the pace of transformation. According to the International Energy Agency, the number of countries with policies that directly support investment in hydrogen technologies is increasing, along with the number of sectors they target.

Learn more about this zero-emission energy source and why it should be part of any renewable energy strategy for a clean and sustainable future.

The Hydrogen Revolution Is Happening

You don’t have to be a clean energy expert to have heard about the promise of green hydrogen. As countries including the United States race to decarbonize and prevent our planet from warming to catastrophic levels, this renewable energy source is generating billions in private investment and has caught the attention of the federal government. The Department of Energy recently invested $8 billion to kickstart the construction of clean hydrogen hubs across the United States.

And for good reason – as businesses, nations, and policymaking bodies work to transform our global energy systems, carbon-free green hydrogen has the potential to fundamentally shift our energy economy away from greenhouse gases and help combat climate change.

What Is Green Hydrogen?

Green hydrogen is produced by splitting water into two parts – hydrogen and oxygen – via a process called electrolysis. This process takes place in a unit called an electrolyzer. When an electrolyzer is powered by renewable energy sources that do not emit carbon, such as wind or solar, the resulting product is referred to as green hydrogen. 

What About Blue Hydrogen and Gray Hydrogen? 

Rather than using renewable sources like wind, water, or solar to produce green hydrogen, blue hydrogen is derived from natural gas. In this process, natural gas is mixed with hot steam and a catalyst to create hydrogen and carbon monoxide. Water is added to create carbon dioxide. The carbon dioxide emissions are captured and sequestered underground, rendering the process carbon neutral.

The same chemical process is used to make gray hydrogen, except the carbon dioxide emissions are allowed to escape into the environment – making it the least renewable form of hydrogen. 

While these blue and gray alternatives are considered bridging mechanisms to help move us away from fossil fuels and toward a more sustainable future, they fall short of the zero emissions footprint of green hydrogen.

How Is Hydrogen Produced and Stored?

Renewable hydrogen can be produced, stored, delivered, and used across multiple applications and sectors. Infrastructure in the form of a hydrogen hub connects multiple production and storage sites to give customers in close proximity to strategic locations access to low-cost, reliable clean energy.

In the United States, hydrogen energy can be stored for weeks, months, or years in large quantities underground in salt caverns. These caverns are purpose-built into geologic, naturally occurring salt formations. This is long-term energy storage that can be dispatched on demand in the event of severe weather that causes power outages or other distribution gaps that require dispatchable energy.

Green Hydrogen Storage

How Is Green Hydrogen Used?

Green hydrogen offers a reliable, clean energy source to replace fossil fuels in a variety of industries and has vast potential applications, including difficult-to-decarbonize sectors and the manufacturing of steel, fertilizer, and concrete.

Green hydrogen can be used to replace diesel and other fuels for heavy-duty trucks, maritime shipping, and train and plane travel, revolutionizing the transportation sector, which has long been responsible for emitting a considerable portion of heat-trapping greenhouse gas emissions.  

Is it Reliable?

The ability to store large quantities of hydrogen over the long term makes it vital in addressing fluctuating energy supply and energy independence during this critical time. Hydrogen production also creates jobs in the growing circular economy, particularly in communities that have been traditionally underserved and underrepresented in the energy transition. Broadly, by 2030, the U.S. hydrogen economy could generate $140 billion and support 700,000 jobs.

What’s Next?

The demand for hydrogen reached an estimated 87 million metric tons in 2020, and is expected to grow to 500–680 million metric tons by 2050. From 2020 to 2021, the hydrogen production market was valued at $130 billion and is estimated to grow up to 9.2% per year through 2030. While the vast majority of this production is not green hydrogen, interest in and momentum for clean hydrogen are accelerating across industries and sectors.

The European Union is investing $430 billion – billion – in green hydrogen by 2030 to help achieve the goals outlined in its Green Deal. Other countries including Japan, Germany, and Australia have made similar investments.

The United States has some catching up to do to reach the ambition of its international counterparts in financing hydrogen research and development. The Biden Administration’s Hydrogen Shot initiative is one such effort. And a massive project in Utah won a $500 million conditional loan guarantee from the U.S. Department of Energy Loans Program Office that will enable it to provide seasonal energy storage in the West.

Meanwhile, a growing number of companies are working to accelerate the pace and scale of hydrogen production in the United States. One such company, Hy Stor Energy, is investing in the Gulf Coast and a $3 billion renewable hydrogen hub that will couple on-site production with long-duration storage.

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