Not so long ago, hydrogen looked like the next big thing, offering a way to decarbonise great swaths of the economy and perhaps even heat homes.
At one point, scenarios for low-carbon hydrogen saw demand rising from virtually nothing to as much as 800mn tonnes per annum (Mtpa) by 2050, or around 20 per cent of the global net zero energy mix. The vast majority of this was expected to be “green”, produced by splitting water molecules using renewable electricity, with a residual share for “blue”, made by stripping out and capturing the carbon in natural gas.
As well as big, hydrogen appeared to be imminent. To be on track for 2050, the world needs perhaps 70Mtpa of green hydrogen capacity by 2030, according to the International Energy Agency’s 2021 net zero scenario. Europe alone set itself a target of 20Mtpa.