The hydrogen horizon

Pressure to accelerate reduction in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions continues to drive demand for cleaner sources of energy.

The U.S. government is shining a particularly strong spotlight on hydrogen as a solution with the recent announcement of the U.S. National Clean Hydrogen Strategy and Roadmap in June 2023, following major funding and incentive structures in the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) in 2022 and Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) in 2021.

Increased public and private investment and support can help a growing number of hydrogen applications reach commercial scale, including power generation, transportation, manufacturing, and even storage for intermittent renewable energy sources. But the new government incentives can’t fully counter the uncertainty—and hence, potential risk—around future demand for H₂, giving organizations pause about putting a clean hydrogen stake in the ground.

In this paper, we take a look at operational hydrogen production and built-in demand potential that can support the case for investment. We also introduce several pragmatic considerations for evaluating hydrogen projects and strategies to introduce greater certainty, improve chances for economic success, and ultimately give global net zero efforts a much-needed boost.