Asia has been at the centre stage of growing global interest in hydrogen, says Lucie Togni, Senior Manager-Insights, World Energy Council (WEC).

Explaining it further, Togni mentions, “Asia-Pacific region is particularly active with three national hydrogen strategies published in three countries, namely Japan, South Korea, and Australia. There are at least another four in preparation which include China, New Zealand, Singapore, and Uzbekistan. There are ongoing policy discussions and demonstrations in nations such as Bangladesh, Hong Kong, and India. Different hydrogen stories are emerging in different regions. As Asia Pacific countries focus on hydrogen for economic growth, they have different sources and goals."

"Australia is aiming at clean hydrogen by 2030. Japan is looking at fossil fuel based hydrogen (with carbon capture and storage) by 2030 and without CO2 by 2050. There are also the differences in sectoral priorities in each of the nations. In Japan and South Korea, it is highly prioritized in the heating sector but less explored everywhere else. These countries are also focusing on transport and power generation. There are differences in policy actions to support hydrogen development, with 3 countries addressing various social issues. Since the hydrogen economy is at an early stage, nations across the world must facilitate experience sharing and learning. There is a need to develop regional and global multi-stakeholder dialogue,” added Togni.

Experts spoke about the emerging APAC green hydrogen and ammonia supply chain scenario at the webinar on ‘Emerging Hydrogen Economy in Asia Pacific Region’ on 21st July, 2021. It was moderated by Keryn James, CEO, ERM & Executive Committee Member, WBCSD.

The hydrogen economy has a wide value chain and can’t be achieved by the efforts of any single player, says Dong Wook Kim, Executive Vice President, Hyundai Motors.

Kim shares a detailed overview of Korean efforts: “There needs to be a step by step approach towards the hydrogen economy. There should be an international definition of hydrogen fuel and countries need to drive the efforts at global level. Being a first mover, Asia Pacific has played a leading role in the hydrogen economy. Government and private sector must be working closely. From H2 generation to storage, transport and supply and finally use, it is important to balance the supply and demand of hydrogen step by step through cross sector cooperation. Within each stage of the hydrogen economy value chain, traditional major companies and new technology startups are growing in competition."

"Hydrogen mobility companies are achieving economies of scale by adopting fuel cells to various vehicles. Hyundai plans to invest $10.1 billion by 2030 to take the lead in the upcoming hydrogen economy. We plan to produce 50,000 hydrogen vehicles and 7 lakh fuel systems by 2030. Korea government has unveiled ‘Hydrogen Economy Raodmap’ including hydrogen utilizing industries. The H2 production target is 1.9 million tons per year by 2030 and 5.2 million tons per year by 2040. The H2 price target is $3.5 per kg by 2030 and $2.5 per kg by 2040," added Kim.

From current fossil fuel based hydrogen to green hydrogen in 2030, we are working on a CO2 free hydrogen energy, opines Shigeru Muraki, Executive Advisor, Tokyo Gas & Vice-Chair, WEC-Asia Pacific & South Asia.

Talking about Japan's strategy, Muraki said, “The fossil fuel driven hydrogen fuel in its current form is expensive but 11 cents per kilowatt of electricity is competitive against fossil fuels and natural gas. Asia has invested in hydrogen carriers. Transportation across the ocean by H2 Energy Carriers (Ammonia, LH2, and Organic Hydride) from Australia to Japan. Ammonia is likely the cheapest mechanism and has an edge. South Asia and the Middle-East can be reached through hydrogen carriers to develop new energy sources. With dynamic development of low carbon fuel, Asia can contribute majorly to the global hydrogen economy."

"Currently we have a Japan-Brunei pilot project where we have off gas, steam methane reforming, hydrogen generation, chemical tanker and dehydrogenation. Under the Japan-Australia project, we have brown coal+CCS, gasification, liquefied H2 carrier and loading facility. Under the fuel ammonia value chain, we have 0.5 to 1 million tons per year by 2025 and 3-5 million tons per year by 2030. The target is 30 million tons a year by 2050. The power company will take a decision on commercialization of fuel ammonia, mixing combustion with coal power. Next target in the green plan,” added Muraki.

In the pursuit of renewable energy, we are looking at renewable projects at oil and gas scale including green ammonia production, says Andrew Dickson, Development Manager, CWP.

“As per the feasibility study on Asian Renewable Energy Hub, the targets for wind generation will be 16 GW, solar generation will be 10 GW, 1.75 million TPA of green hydrogen, and 9.9 million TPA of green ammonia by 2030 respectively. There is a huge potential for fuel cells and green steel. Our focus is majorly on green only because brown and blue have residues. There are multiple scalable markets, such as NH3 and H2. Power generation and shipping have consumption of ammonia whereas fuel cell vehicles and green steel and other industries have consumption of hydrogen after ammonia cracking," commented Andrew. 

"The emissions from hydrogen production vary widely depending on the feedstock and process used. Low-C hydrogen from fossil fuels will always have substantial emission intensities. It is critical to account for fugitive emissions as well as direct and process emissions, especially for gas based hydrogen production. Certification of Low-C hydrogen is essential, to quantify and agree on the emissions and compare Low-C products,” added Andrew.

Sharing details of the YURI Green Hydrogen and Ammonia Green Project in Australia, PingYang Li, Senior Vice President, Engie H2, Biz Unit mentions, “There is a strong pipeline of projects including 8 GW of green hydrogen capacity over 70 projects. From the targeted production of 0.6 GW of green hydrogen capacity by 2025, we are aiming at 4 GW by 2030. From 50 fueling stations in 2025 to more than 100 by 2030. Under Yara-Engie collaboration in Pilbara, YURI is a multi-phase roadmap which aims to establish a new industry value chain, harvesting the abundant renewable power in Western Australia to make renewable hydrogen and ammonia as feedstock for renewable chemical production as well as renewable fuel for power generation and shipping, to serve local and export markets.”