McKinsey report, ‘clean hydrogen’ is an opportunity for countries rich in hydrocarbons

[월간수소경제 성재경 기자] McKinsey, an international consulting firm, published a new report on November 23 (local time) entitled ‘Clean Hydrogen Opportunities for Hydrocarbon Rich Countries’.

This report shows that Hydrocarbon Rich Countries (HRC) can effectively mass produce clean hydrogen and support global decarbonisation by repurposing existing infrastructure.

Among the countries mentioned as HRC are Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), the United States, and Canada. These countries not only have the hydrocarbons needed to produce low carbon blue hydrogen, but they also have experience in developing and implementing complex industrial projects, and have renewable resources to mass produce green hydrogen.

In order to realize HRC’s hydrogen vision, the competitive supply of blue and green hydrogen must be increased. The cost of producing green hydrogen is expected to fall by around 50% by 2030 due to a reduction in the costs of water electrolysis.

These countries have cheap wind and solar energy resources, and can reduce risks through the cost competitiveness of blue hydrogen for the next few decades while challenging the construction of green hydrogen production infrastructure in the medium to long term.

However, additional investments will be needed to ensure that HRC has its own advantage and provides a reliable supply of energy to meet the global demand for hydrogen.

With more than 680 large-scale clean hydrogen projects announced globally, representing more than US$240 billion in mature investments, these countries will need to act quickly if they are to continue grow as expected.

Investment and focus on hydrogen equipment manufacturing, hydrogen production, carbon capture, utilization and storage (CCUS), hydrogen transportation, clean hydrogen production downstream, and integrated project developers are needed.

Maurits Waardenburg, partner of the McKinsey Expert Group, predicts that “hydrogen will significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions by reducing global carbon emissions by up to 20% by 2050.”