79. Hydrogen and the Energy Transition

Hydrogen and the Energy Transition Power systems around the world are changing. Renewable energy, mainly in the form of wind and solar generation, is being added everywhere, while more traditional forms of power, such as coal-fired and nuclear generation, are being retired from the grid. Meanwhile, natural gas-fired generation has taken the lead role in facilitating the transition by providing relatively quick ramping capability and stable baseload power to backup intermittent renewables. However, there is a lot of research and development work underway that could eventually push natural gas out of the mix. The reason is that gas, like other fossil fuels, releases CO2 and other emissions to the atmosphere, albeit at lower quantities than coal, fuel oil, and diesel on a per-kWh-generated basis. One of the potential supplements or replacements for natural gas could be hydrogen. The concept of a hydrogen economy is not new. It was first contemplated at least as far back as the 1970s, but the economics associated with producing hydrogen at the time made it impractical. That is changing as countries around the world implement decarbonization goals and the share of renewable energy in the power mix increases. Going forward, there are likely to be situations in which the supply of solar and wind power is high, but demand for the electricity is low. Rather than curtailing production, the surplus energy could be used to produce “green hydrogen” through electrolysis at a very reasonable cost. “There’s no CO2 emissions associated with [green hydrogen],” Megan Reusser, hydrogen development lead at Burns & McDonnell, said as a guest on The POWER Podcast. “So, bringing hydrogen to the forefront as a potential way to meet decarbonization goals, coupled with other types of renewable energy such as solar or wind, that’s what’s really giving [hydrogen] kind of a new life and a really big interest currently in the market.” Seeing the writing on the wall, the major gas turbine original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) have jumped aboa