An economically-sustainable hydrogen (H2) industry could soon be on the cards according to a blueprint released by CSIRO, Australia’s national science agency, which found that cost competitiveness is firmly on the horizon.
The National Hydrogen Roadmap sets out a path to develop the action and investment plans required to realise the full benefits of a H2 economy. H2 can service multiple markets and if produced using low-emissions energy sources, will enable deep decarbonisation across the energy and industrial sectors.
Roadmap findings include:
- Hydrogen technologies are reaching maturity, with the narrative now shifting from R&D to market activation.
- Hydrogen presents a new export opportunity for Australia and could also play a significant role in enabling the further uptake of renewable energy.
- While the benefits are clear, current barriers to market activation include a lack of supporting infrastructure such as hydrogen refuelling stations for transport, and the cost of hydrogen supply for some applications.
- An appropriate policy framework could create a ‘market pull’ for hydrogen, with investment in infrastructure then likely to follow.
- In or around 2025, clean hydrogen could be cost-competitive with existing industrial feedstocks such as natural gas, and energy carriers such as batteries in many applications.
CSIRO CEO Dr. Larry Marshall described the Roadmap as a unique opportunity, “Australia has a unique and urgent opportunity to turn significant natural resources, including coal, gas, and renewables like solar and wind energy, into a low-emissions energy product and ship it around the world – in some cases literally exporting Aussie sunshine.”
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