The production of carbon-neutral hydrogen, dubbed green hydrogen, and of low-carbon hydrogen, dubbed blue hydrogen, is set to increase around the world in 2021.
“There’s been a surge of interest in hydrogen, and it’s not slowing down,” says Runeel Daliah, an analyst at Lux Research. The attention is a response to the continued restrictions on greenhouse gas emissions by regulators around the world. “For countries to reach their greenhouse gas emissions targets, either they get rid of their heavy industry, or they decarbonize the sector. Introducing green hydrogen is one of the best solutions for decarbonizing,” Daliah says.
Hydrogen is a simple yet versatile molecule suitable for use as a chemical feedstock, fuel, or energy carrier. Announcements of new green and blue hydrogen projects in Europe are expected to increase rapidly in 2021, partly in response to a surge of public cofunding for such projects from the European Union’s $900 billion NextGenerationEU package.
Companies have already announced plans to build more than 100 green hydrogen projects across the region. Production of green hydrogen by renewable energy–powered water electrolysis sits at the heart of the EU’s plan to be carbon neutral by 2050.
