Mitrova and two co-authors, reported in mid-2019 that a hydrogen economy is an image of the future for the global economy, in which hydrogen becomes a new global energy carrier and starts playing a role comparable to the one now played by coal, oil or gas and much more important than the current role of hydropower, nuclear power plants and bioenergy combined. According to various forecasts, this may happen overall globally after 2040; however, the hydrogen economy is already beginning to form in some regions. In the 20th century the main driver for the development of hydrogen technologies was their economic competitiveness compared to expensive hydrocarbons. The situation is different nowadays, as the obligations of states, individual regions, companies and their associations to combat global climate change come to the fore.
Hydrogen is a necessary element for the implementation of these obligations: renewable energy sources can decarbonate primarily electricity generation (although there are limitations imposed by their stochasticity) - while the energy supply of buildings, the transport sector and industry remain "outside" the scope of decarbonization - unless a new energy source can be found. Hydrogen claims to offer the solution. More than 20 countries and 50 corporations have adopted long-term programs for the development of hydrogen technologies, ï¬nanced from budgets at different levels and supported by beneï¬cial regimes and international technological cooperation. Japan is one of the leaders, having set the goal of building a “hydrogen-based society” See Reference #1.
It is simultaneously developing several elements of the hydrogen chain and landmark projects of intercontinental hydrogen export from Australia, Norway and the Middle East, as well as projects for the application of hydrogen energy in millions of households. In total, there are dozens of “hydrogen communities” in the world and several hundred pilot projects, primarily in Japan, Germany, the United Kingdom, the United States, South Korea and other countries.
Hydrogen is currently produced primarily from hydrocarbons (around 65 million tonnes per year), and is consumed at production sites. In the next few decades the challenge is to create a fundamentally new industry and a market based on carbon-free hydrogen production, large-scale storage and transportation of hydrogen over hundreds and thousands of kilometers via pipelines and by tankers, by sea and onshore. The aim is to develop large-scale application of hydrogen energy in the energy sector, in transport and industry, including steel and chemical production, large gas turbines, individual energy sources for households, manufacturing and the army, where it can be used to power transport- from long-haul trucks to drones. At the same time, hydrogen production would have to grow several fold by 2050, and some segments of its technological chain would need to be upscaled hundreds of times.
Russia still remains apart from the international communities and partnerships developing hydrogen technologies. This is primarily explained by the fact that the climate agenda and decarbonization play a minor role in the energy strategy, which signiï¬cantly hinders the development of not only hydrogen, but generally any low-carbon technologies (renewable energy, energy efficiency, electric transport and etc.). At the same time, Russia has not only got enormous resources to bring to a new global market, but also its own technological developments (which are, however, for the most part far from commercialization at this point) and promising domestic demand.
The emerging hydrogen market will likely compete with hydrocarbon markets, where Russia's position now seems unshakable - and in this sense, a strategy of ignoring or even opposing the new may seem attractive in the short term. But in the long run, such a strategy will put the national economy at the risk of a slowdown- not only because of falling demand for hydrocarbons, but also as a result of restricting the development of the innovation sector in industry.
A response to these global challenges could be the incorporation of hydrogen technologies in the Russian energy strategy and the low-carbon development strategy — or the adoption of a separate national hydrogen program. The latter should focus on the three main pillars — support for technological development, long-term demand and the market and stimulating international investment. The key to success should be entering the existing international hydrogen communities and coordination of developers and stakeholders nationally.
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[Note: Perhaps Russian contributions would be better received by the world if Putin would reform his thinking and his governance away from his fascist control of his people and, by turning, serve his people by contributing to the world instead of wasting his country's resources through military spending and threatening WW III. (more)]
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