A new report has claimed that renewables based hydrogen could be cost-competitive with existing industrial fuels like natural gas, and with emerging energy storage technologies like batteries, by 2025.
Published last week, the CSIRO’s National Hydrogen Roadmap report says an economically-sustainable hydrogen industry is “firmly on the horizon,” as technologies reach maturity, and the narrative shifts from R&D to market activation.
This meant Australia had an “urgent” opportunity to establish a “hydrogen economy,” that would allow its rich renewable resources to be exported around the world.
The CSIRO report is the latest in a series to highlight the enormous potential in Australia of hydrogen gas – which is derived by splitting water using either fossil fuels or zero emissions sources.
Like reports before it – including from chief scientist Alan Finkel and from the Australian Renewable Energy Agency – it points to the potential for “green” hydrogen exports, based around the country’s enormous potential for wind and solar power.
And it notes that using renewable energy-derived hydrogen could achieve deep decarbonisation across Australia’s energy and industrial sectors, replacing natural gas as a source of heat as well as a low emissions feedstock for a number of industrial processes.
