How the hydrogen production from RES could change energy and fuel markets. A review of recent literature

摘要

The goal that the international community has set itself is to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in theshort/medium-term, especially in Europe that committed itself to reducing GHG emissions to 80-95% below1990 levels by 2050. Renewable energies play a fundamental role in achieving this objective. In this context,the policies of the main industrialized countries of the world are being oriented towards increasing the sharesof electricity produced from renewable energy sources (RES).In recent years, the production of renewable energy has increased considerably, but given the availability ofthese sources, there is a mismatch between production and demand. This raises some issues as balancing theelectricity grid and, in particular, the use of surplus energy, as well as the need to strengthen the electricitynetwork.Among the various new solutions that are being evaluated, there are: the accumulation in batteries, the use ofcompressed air energy storage (CAES) and the production of hydrogen that appears to be the most suitable toassociate with the water storage (pumped hydro). Concerning hydrogen, a recent study highlights that theefficiencies of hydrogen storage technologies are lower compared to advanced lead acid batteries on a DCto-DC basis, but “in contrast, [...] the cost of hydrogen storage is competitive with batteries and could becompetitive with CAES and pumped hydro in locations that are not favourable for these technologies”(Moliner et al., 2016).This shows that, once the optimal efficiency rate is reached, the technologies concerning the production ofhydrogen from renewable sources will be a viable and competitive solution. But, what will be the impact onthe energy and fuel markets? The production of hydrogen through electrolysis will certainly have animportant economic impact, especially in the transport sector, leading to the creation of a new market and anew supply chain that will change the physiognomy of the entire energy market.