The Hydrogen Council (https://hydrogencouncil.com/en/) hosted a ‘CEO Event’ yesterday (January 20, 2020) in Versailles, France, which included a closed-door CEO discussion focused on setting priorities and future direction for the organization. In addition, the Hydrogen Council released a new report, “Path to Hydrogen Competitiveness: A cost perspective”.
The report was launched in the presence of more than 80 CEOs and other senior executives at the Hydrogen Council’s annual meeting, which this year took place alongside the President of France, Emmanuel Macron’s ‘Choose France! Summit’ and the World Economic Forum in Davos. The CEO Event brought industry leaders together to reiterate their commitment to hydrogen and set the path for scale up of hydrogen in the coming years.
The full Hydrogen Council report is available here.
This latest Hydrogen Council report shows that the cost of hydrogen solutions is expected to fall sharply within the next decade – and sooner than previously expected. As scale up of hydrogen production, distribution, equipment and component manufacturing continues, cost is projected to decrease by up to 50% by 2030 across a wide range of applications, making hydrogen competitive with other low-carbon alternatives and, in some cases, even conventional options.
In addition, significant cost reductions are expected across different hydrogen applications. For more than 20 of these, such as long-distance and heavy-duty transportation, industrial heating, and heavy industry feedstock – which together comprise roughly 15% of global energy consumption – the hydrogen route appears to be the decarbonization option of choice and represents a material opportunity.
The study is based on real industry data, with 25,000 data points gathered and analysed from 30 companies using a rigorous methodology. The data was collected and analytical support provided by McKinsey & Company and represents the entire hydrogen value chain across four key geographies (U.S., Europe, Japan/Korea, and China). It was also reviewed by an independent advisory group comprised of recognized hydrogen and energy transition experts.
“2020 marks the beginning of a new era for energy”, said Benoît Potier, Chairman and CEO of Air Liquide and Co-chair of the Hydrogen Council. “As the potential for hydrogen to become part of our global energy system becomes a reality, we can expect fewer emissions and improved security and flexibility. This announces the decade of hydrogen. A clean energy future with hydrogen is closer than we think, because the industry has been working hard on addressing key technology challenges. This report shows the path forward to scale up to fully achieve hydrogen competitiveness and deliver the decarbonization we urgently need.”
Euisun Chung, Executive Vice Chairman of Hyundai Motor Group and Co-chair of the Hydrogen Council noted, “The Hydrogen Council believes that the report’s findings will not only increase public awareness about the potential of hydrogen to power everyday lives, but also debunk the myth that a hydrogen economy is unattainable due to cost. If we are to reach our global climate goals by mid-century and reap the benefits of hydrogen, now is the time to act.”
“Based on real cost data from the industry, the analysis shows that a number of hydrogen solutions can become competitive before 2030 already,” says Bernd Heid, Senior Partner at McKinsey & Company. “Out of 35 use cases analyzed, at-scale hydrogen can be the lowest cost low-carbon solution in 22 use cases – such as in the steel industry and heating for existing buildings. And it can beat fossil-based solutions at scale in 9 use cases – for example in heavy-duty transport and trains.”
Randy MacEwen, Ballard President and CEO said, “Yesterday’s Hydrogen Council CEO Event included a constructive discussion among leaders of many of the world’s most important energy, gas, automotive, powertrain and industrial organizations. In my view, it is also critical that the Hydrogen Council and entire hydrogen and fuel cell industry focuses on cost reduction to drive down Total-Cost-of-Ownership. As we begin the ‘hydrogen decade’, this new report identifies key use cases – including within the transportation sector – that are most attractive for Fuel Cell Electric Vehicles, or FCEVs, and confirms that highly competitive FCEVs will be a reality sooner than had been expected.”
The Hydrogen Council is a CEO-led organization that uses its global reach to promote collaboration between governments, industry and investors, and to provide guidance on accelerating the deployment of hydrogen solutions around the world. The Council acts as a business marketplace, building a comprehensive hydrogen economy and shifting the perception of hydrogen globally. In addition, the Hydrogen Council serves as a resource for safety standards and an interlocutor for the investment community, while identifying opportunities for regulatory advocacy in key geographies. The coalition of 81 members including large multinationals, innovative SMEs and investors collectively represents total revenues of over €18.7 trillion and close to 6 million jobs around the world. To find out more about the Hydrogen Council visit www.hydrogencouncil.com.
This new Hydrogen Council report is consistent with a white paper jointly prepared by Deloitte China and Ballard that was issued on January 8, 2019, which demonstrates that, in less than 10 years it will become cheaper to run a fuel cell electric vehicle (FCEV) than it is to run a battery electric vehicle (BEV) or an internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicle for certain commercial applications. The full Deloitte-Ballard report is available here.
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