New Energies, new possibilities

The South Korean government has today launched the world’s first auction for clean-hydrogen fired power generation, for up to 6,500GWh of electricity produced per year over a 15-year period, starting by 2028. The 15-year contracts are available for 100% H2-based electricity generation (using turbines or fuel cells), ammonia co-fired in coal power plants, or to hydrogen co-fired at natural gas power plants. The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy (Motie) has reportedly set a bidding deadline of 8 November to take into account the time it would take for power-generation companies to enter into hydrogen-purchase contracts.
Bidders will be evaluated both on the price bid for the electricity produced — which will take the form of a top-up on the market power price — and on non-price criteria, including the level of greenhouse gas emissions emitted by the production of the clean hydrogen.
The auction is open to power generation companies using hydrogen produced with greenhouse gas emissions of up to 4kg of CO2-equivalent (CO2e) per kilogram, but projects with such high emissions will be unlikely to win at auction. The emissions-based grading system gives a maximum 35 points to hydrogen produced with less than 0.1kgCO2e/kgH2, while hydrogen made with 4kgCO2e/kgH2 will receive just one point.
This gives green hydrogen made from renewables an advantage over blue H2 made from fossil fuel with carbon capture and storage. But using renewable electricity to produce hydrogen or ammonia that will be burned in fossil-fuel power stations to produce electricity has been heavily criticised.
Co-firing ammonia with coal, in particular, has come under fire for being dirtier than unabated natural gas power generation, producing power that would be significantly more expensive than using renewable energy directly, and a greenwashed excuse to keep highly polluting fossil-fuel assets on line for as long as possible at the expense of the planet. The auction is due to be the first of several, with the government targeting 13TWh of cumulative clean-hydrogen power generation by 2030. Presuming round-the clock generation, that equates to about 750MW of power capacity.
Both South Korea and Japan are planning to reach net-zero emissions by importing large amounts of green hydrogen, based on the belief that they do not have enough available land to produce enough electricity for their densely populated, energy-hungry nations.
But critics have pointed out that neither country is planning to make full use of its offshore wind or rooftop solar potential, and that using imported H2 would make its electricity so expensive that each country’s products might not be able to compete on international markets.
Grey hydrogen power auction Motie also simultaneously launched its third auction for general hydrogen-fired power generation — essentially for grey hydrogen produced from unabated fossil fuels — of up to 1,300GWh/year, for delivery in 2026. The ministry launched its first general hydrogen power auction in March last year, with 715GWh of annual generating capacity awarded for 20 years to five projects in August 2023 — and a second one, for 650GWh, in September 2023. Winners at these two tenders are due to deliver electricity in 2025.

South Korea launches world’s first auction for clean-hydrogen power generation | Hydrogen Insight

The many nations around the world that are planning to become exporters of clean hydrogen will be left disappointed at the end of the decade as the global demand for imported H2 will be far less than they hope, according to a new report from research house BloombergNEF (BNEF).
This is mainly because the US and Europe will be the world’s largest producers of clean hydrogen, with blue H2 making up most of the total in America.
“Government policies and targets will be the prime driver of clean hydrogen project deployment this decade. As a result, three markets with the strongest public support – the US, Europe and China –dominate global H2 supply in this outlook,” says the new report, Hydrogen Supply Outlook 2024: Regional deep dives.
“Most other markets fall behind in their ambitions… Prospective export markets are likely to undershoot their 2030 goals.
“Project progress in Latin America, Australia, the Middle East and Africa is constrained by low demand and export policies that have a limited impact before 2030. The US and Canada could meet most export demand, particularly for blue H2, due to the maturity of projects and strong subsidies.”
In total, 16.4 million tonnes of low-carbon hydrogen will be produced annually around the world by 2030, from 477 projects, says BNEF, with 37.2% manufactured in the US, followed by Europe (24.3%), China (18.9%), Canada (5.5%), Middle East and Africa (4.9%), India (3%), Latin America (2.4%), Australia (1.8%) and the rest of Asia (1.2%). For full figures, see table below.
Of this global total, 9.6 million tonnes will be green hydrogen made from renewables, while 6.8 million tonnes will be blue (made from natural gas with carbon capture and storage), with most of the latter coming from North America.
In Europe, the UK is forecast to be the biggest clean H2 producer, with 0.8 million tonnes a year in 2030 (0.6 million of which will be blue), followed by the Netherlands (0.7 million), Germany (0.5 million), Norway and Spain (0.4 million each).
Countries with big clean hydrogen amibtions, but low levels of public support — such as Egypt and Chile — will see little, if any, projects completed by 2030 without further incentives, says the report.
It adds that the 3.1-million-tonne forecast for China is “highly uncertain due to a lack of project visibility and targets for 2030”, adding that tightening environmental regulation for coal-based chemicals producers and state-owned companies “could drive faster projects deployment”.
And in India, the subsidies awarded in its first green hydrogen auction “are low by international standards and probably not enough to justify the projects’ final investment decisions”.
BNEF’s figures — which are based on a bottom-up analysis of more than 1,600 projects in its Hydrogen Data Hub — are far more pessimistic than a similar report unveiled by the Hydrogen Council in November, which expected 40 million tonnes of clean hydrogen being produced in 2030, with 20 million tonnes transported between continents.

US and Europe will lead global clean hydrogen production in 2030, with little supply from exporting nations: BNEF | Hydrogen Insight