This article is sponsored byØRsted。

From a somewhat niche technology only a few years ago,绿色氢- 使用可再生能源生产的 - 已迅速进入全球脱碳主流，作为一种“新解决方案”，以使碳排放量从某些最坚固的部门置换。

Green hydrogen still has a long journey to become a key player in reducing global climate emissions — but with a growing pipeline of projects and significant policy targets announced around the globe, this technology is quickly approaching an inflection point.

Fossil foundations

如今，氢主要由重工业使用。在全球范围内，每年使用大约115兆座（MT）的氢气，主要用于炼油厂，用于生产氨和甲醇以及其他化学和工业过程。

现代需求几乎完全与分子水平的“破裂”化石燃料产生的氢相遇，产生氢 - 以及很多碳（CO）₂）。在当今世界上大约70mt的专用氢产量中，有70％是由蒸汽甲烷改革天然气或“灰氢”产生的，它发出了额外的9公斤CO₂per kg of hydrogen produced. Even worse, around 27 percent is produced from gasification of coal, emitting 19 kg of CO₂每公斤氢。总而言之，今天使用氢的大约占全球碳排放量的2％。

Renewable redemption

Fortunately, electrolysis — using renewable electricity to split water into hydrogen and oxygen — offers an alternative path to produce hydrogen with no greenhouse gases emitted. The industry has dubbed this "green hydrogen." As costs of wind and solar generation have decreased over the past decade to the point where renewable energy is more affordable than power generated from coal, gas or nuclear, green hydrogen is quickly emerging as a key component in a truly decarbonized economy and world.

在上升和向下逐渐增加的灵活性，响应风和太阳能的可变输出，这意味着氢的生产可以帮助平衡电网的供应和需求，并减少电网扩展的投资需求。这是一种具有成本效益的技术，因为管道中的分子通常比电力线中的电子便宜。

但是氢不仅补充了可再生能源的扩展。它还将有助于用绿色燃料取代化石油和天然气。

‘X’ marks the spot

Hydrogen is a potent energy carrier. Burning a kilogram of hydrogen releases 33kWh of energy — two orders of magnitude more than the energy content of a 1kg lithium-ion battery. This makes hydrogen well suited for high-temperature industrial processes that today rely on coal or natural gas. And it enables decarbonization of heavy transport applications, where the energy requirement is so large that direct electrification (using batteries) becomes impractical. For instance, it is difficult to use batteries in deep-sea shipping, aviation and long-haul trucking.

Power-to-X – essentially "turning electricity into something else" — is the umbrella term for both hydrogen electrolysis and a series of steps that can be added. For instance, when renewable hydrogen is combined with carbon, it can produce methanol, which in turn can be refined into other hydrocarbons. Or when combined with nitrogen — readily available as it constitutes about 80 percent of our atmosphere — it can be turned into ammonia, both a key component of fertilizers and potentially a carbon-free shipping fuel.

Reasonable decarbonization scenarios suggest that global hydrogen demand will increase by fourfold to sevenfold to 500 to 800Mt per year by 2050 to decarbonize heavy transport and other industries. Estimates indicate that in a net-zero scenario, hydrogen and e-fuels will make up around one quarter of global energy consumption by 2050.

一致降低成本的努力

Hydrogen from renewable energy comes at a two- to three-times cost premium over "grey" hydrogen. But this is evolving, quickly. A wave of regulatory incentives, policy targets and bold industry ambitions are sweeping the world, working in concordance to establish supply chains and achieve economies of scale to cost-down the technology.

在美国，2021年的《基础设施法》专门用于95亿美元用于清洁氢的研究，旨在将成本降低到每公斤2美元。国会正在考虑清洁氢的税收抵免。在欧洲，各国政府正在竞争实施新的和更大胆的目标，欧盟有一个集体的野心，每年从2030年开始提供20mt可再生氢（包括一半的国内生产），该氢使用80GW的电解室容量制造。

为了应对这些政治野心，并承认全球大国推动脱碳化，公司正在制定新的，大胆和积极进取的承诺，以消除清洁的绿色燃料。这有助于为投资，开发人员和技术提供商创造确定性，以建立行业。

ØRstedrecently partnered with global shipping company Maerskto establish a 675MW solar- and wind-powered electrolyzer and e-methanol production on the U.S. Gulf Coast, to fuel Maersk’s newly ordered fleet of 12 methanol-powered vessels. It is critical for companies to send this kind of demand-side signal, so that providers and investors can commit with some degree of certainty. Ørsted is part of the First Movers Coalition, through which 50+ companies are making advance commitments to purchasing decarbonization solutions in hard-to-abate sectors.

在政治野心，进一步的发展和示范以及使规模经济的重大生产中，绿色氢在本十年末之前应以“灰色”氢的价格达到价格准确性。到达那里将需要巨大的努力和投资，但是正如我们在可再生能源中看到的那样，国家和州成为第一批推动者也有巨大的潜在上涨空间。首先搬家将从绿色氢供应链中的新工作中受益，同时确保现有重工业和运输部门的长期生存能力。

升起

在Ørsted，我们将氢视为绿色过渡和主要生长区域的关键组成部分。在管理复杂的可再生能源项目，强大的陆上能力以及在德克萨斯州和纽约等主要州的庞大而不断增长的业务方面拥有良好的经验，我们准备支持迅速建立氢基础设施和能力 - 支持能源安全，以支持能源安全。该过程。

From the policy side, some building blocks will help companies such as Ørsted bring renewable hydrogen to scale. These include:

• 绿色氢的生产税收抵免。在当前立法中提出的这种信贷就像现有的生产税收抵免（PTC），这些税收抵免有助于发展可再生能源行业。当前提议的税收抵免为每公斤清洁氢3美元。
• Clear and understandable renewable hydrogen standards.These standards, which should include clear distinctions between green, blue and grey hydrogen, can provide a level playing field for market participants and will give producers of hydrogen clarity on how to produce, sell and finance their product. Alignment with developing international standards will also allow U.S.-produced clean fuels to compete internationally.
• 支持过渡行业。随着运输，化学品，肥料，钢铁和炼油厂等行业脱好用的买球外围app网站碳的旅程，他们应获得劳动力培训计划，税收优惠和政策支持，以帮助支持其计划。

ØRsted’s experience in transitioning from a fossil fuel company to a green energy leader in the space of a decade has shown that when governments and companies collaborate effectively, technologies that at first seemed an expensive green niche can rapidly become widespread, popular — and cheaper than fossil fuels. It’s clear that renewable hydrogen is on the same path. With an additional push from all sides, this lightest of elements can become a decarbonization heavyweight.