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could face social acceptance issues. In addition, methane leakages associated with production and transportation of the gas have been increasingly under scrutiny as significant contributors to the acceleration of climate change. Methane has 86 times higher global warming potential compared to CO2 over a 20-year time horizon (The CCAC Oil & Gas Methane Partnership, no date; Hmiel et al., 2020). Pyrolysis is still at the pilot scale stage and would require high-temperature renewable or low- carbon heat. Hence, considering the sector, green hydrogen is one of the most attractive options, given its nature and renewable character, and as such, it is the focus of this report. Green hydrogen, similar to other production pathways, also has its challenges, however. These include: its current high cost across the entire value chain, from electrolysis to transport and fuel cells; the lack of existing infrastructure for transport and storage; the high energy losses (which in turn require higher wind/solar deployment rates); and the lack of value for the main benefit (e.g. lower GHG emissions) that green hydrogen can have (IRENA, 2019a, 2020c). Electricity is the dominant cost for on-site production of green hydrogen, but the journey to lower renewable costs is already underway. Efforts need to shift to the second largest cost for green hydrogen: electrolysers Renewables are becoming the cheapest source of electricity around the world, with significant potential for further cost reductions (IRENA, 2020a). This opens up the opportunity, in the long- term, to trade globally low-cost green hydrogen from the best renewable resources to regions with limited land or renewable potential. This trade can be done directly with liquid hydrogen, in the form of hydrogen carriers that increase the energy density for transport, or in the form of commodities (e.g. reduced iron and chemicals). The missing element in this equation is the key facility to convert renewable power into green hydrogen: the electrolyser. Electrolysers are the technology necessary to produce hydrogen using electricity and water as inputs. Electrolysis is a well- established technology that is deployed mostly in the chemical industry. While scale-up is needed to bring costs down, technological innovation is also needed to further improve the performance of the technology (i.e. its efficiency and lifetime). This can be done via new catalysts and configurations, the standardisation of designs and a move to mass production of the equipment. Green hydrogen is already close to being competitive today in regions where all the favourable conditions align, but these are usually far from demand centres. For example, in Patagonia, wind energy could have a capacity factor of almost 50%, with an electricity cost of USD 25-30/ MWh. This would be enough to achieve a green hydrogen production cost of about USD 2.5/kg, which is close to the blue hydrogen cost range. In most locations, however, green hydrogen is still 2-3 times more expensive than blue hydrogen. The cost of the former is defined by electricity costs, investment cost, fixed operating costs and the number of operating hours of the electrolyser facilities (see Figure 1). With low operating hours, the investment cost dominates, as it is spread over a smaller amount of hydrogen. This could happen when using only curtailed electricity, or coupling with PV without any storage or backup. The electricity cost becomes dominant as the number of operating hours increases. Solar projects in countries such as Brazil, Portugal, the United Arab Emirates and the United States have been deployed with costs of electricity as low as USD 13.5-20/MWh due to supportive policy instruments, such as auctions, to guarantee a stable payment and reduce the investment risk. SCALING UP ELECTROLYSERS TO MEET THE 1.5°C CLIMATE GOAL 17PDF Image | GREEN HYDROGEN SCALING UP ELECTROLYSERS
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