What’s the issue?
As Europe looks to meet its goal of a net-zero carbon economy by 2050, the hydrogen industry is making the case that there are substantial benefits to including both blue and green hydrogen in that future. As in the U.S., the major sources of renewable energy in Europe are not often located near the demand centers for that power, and both seasonal and daily intermittency of renewable energy is a costly problem to solve.
Why does it matter?
Although the U.S. is running behind much of the world in its embrace of hydrogen as a key component of decarbonizing, the current owners of natural gas underground storage may want to encourage such plans because a couple of key benefits of hydrogen would rely on converting such storage fields to both hydrogen and carbon storage.
What’s our view?
To assess the current storage fields that could best be utilized to store hydrogen, we looked for storage fields within ten miles of high voltage electric transmission lines which could provide the necessary supply of electricity to create the hydrogen when renewable power exceeds demand and provide the grid interconnection for electricity generated from the stored hydrogen when renewable power is not available in sufficient quantities. The companies with such fields include the largest energy companies in the country, such as Sempra, Berkshire Hathaway Energy, Kinder Morgan, TC Energy and Enbridge.
SPECIAL REPORT: Opportunities and obstacles for hydrogen as a net-zero fuel
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