Marco Alverà in FORTUNE: Consensus over Hydrogen at COP26 can Dramatically Speed Up the Energy Transition
Before the dust settles in Glasgow, consider commentary in FORTUNE magazine by Marco Alverà, CEO of Snam and author of The Hydrogen Revolution:
“We are on the cusp of an energy revolution that could see hydrogen play a key role in the way we bring fully decarbonized energy to our homes, offices, and factories,” writes Marco Alverà, CEO of SNAM, one of the world’s leading energy infrastructure operators and among Italy’s largest listed companies.
In his commentary, Alverà explains that for the energy transition to succeed, vast amounts of intermittent solar and wind energy must be moved from where it is ample and cheap to where it is consumed. Here hydrogen serves its key role as an energy carrier. Produced with green electricity, green hydrogen is by far the most cost-effective and efficient way of moving energy over long distances. And hydrogen is also far easier to store over long periods of time. It is often the cheapest and sometimes the only option to fully decarbonize heavy industry, long-distance mobility, and winter heating. It also provides the resilience and flexibility the energy system so badly needs to avoid extreme price volatility and blackouts.
Alverà cites figures from Bloomberg New Energy Finance (BNEF) indicating that by 2050 clean hydrogen will make up as much as 25% of our net-zero energy mix and will generate a $20 trillion infrastructure investment opportunity involving new technologies, companies and jobs and ultimately creating a more economical energy system than we have today.
In line with the climate aims of COP26, Alverà recommends 4 steps to accelerate green hydrogen development by a decade so as to save 40 gigatons of emissions and $2.5 trillion in abatement costs:
- Agree on a universally accepted definition for measuring clean hydrogen to enable global H2 trade
- Set clear hydrogen targets across economies with mandatory quotas and incentives
- Leverage public/private climate finance to maximize investment in green energy projects in developing countries that have plentiful renewable resources
- Utilize eco-labeling for consumers to signal their support and grow the demand for green alternatives
At GenCell, we understand that to be a truly cost-efficient energy carrier and means for energy storage having high energy density without efficiency losses due to compression or liquification, green hydrogen should be converted to green ammonia. Safely and easily handled, transported and stored as a liquid and featuring high energy density, six times higher than that of hydrogen molecules, green ammonia is one of the most interesting technologies for hydrogen storage. Much easier and more affordable to transport and store than hydrogen molecules and an especially efficient means for storing surplus renewable energy produced from solar or wind, green ammonia can play a key role in the hydrogen revolution and speed up the energy transition at rates even faster than Mr. Alverà projected. Therefore, when we look to green hydrogen to change the energy landscape, we look to green ammonia.
To read the article in Fortune, click here.
