Imported hydrogen can beat EU production costs by 2030 - study

Aurora Energy Metals

24/01/2023 15:26

FRANKFURT, Jan 24 (Reuters) - Imports of renewable
hydrogen into the European Union by 2030 will be competitively
priced compared with domestically produced clean hydrogen, a
future energy source to replace fossil fuels, a study by Aurora
Energy said on Tuesday.
    In the RePowerEU policy, lawmakers have assumed that
hydrogen usage in the bloc will reach 20 million tonnes a year
by the end of the decade, half of which will be met by imports
of hydrogen derived from carbon-free sources such as wind and
solar power, according to Aurora.
    The war in Ukraine has sharpened the region's focus on
security of energy supply, and the use of green hydrogen from
renewable electricity is compatible with its climate goals.
    Aurora calculated in a case study that output of clean
hydrogen in Germany will cost between 3.9 and 5 euros 
($4.23-5.43) per kilogram by 2030. 
    Recent studies have put the current cost of hydrogen from
green power in North Europe within a rough range of 6-8 euros.
    At that rate, Australia, Chile and Spain would be able to
produce it at 3.1 euros/kg, Morocco at 3.2 euros/kg and the
United Arab Emirates at 3.6 euros/kg, it said.
    Aurora compared the assumed costs of production, conversion
into other energy forms and transport via ship, pipeline or
trucks.
    In conclusions on transport modes, it found pipeline
transport to be least expensive, which it said favoured sunny
Spain and Morocco as suppliers to industries further north.
    Spain last month detailed costs of a proposed hydrogen
pipeline, called H2Med, linking eastern Spain and southern
France, which Germany last weekend said it would join. Aurora
said the pipeline would ideally also run south to Morocco.
    Ship transports into Germany would be generally 20% more
expensive than those via pipeline, while using liquid organic
carriers (LOHC) or ammonia to bind hydrogen for re-conversion at
its destination would be even more expensive, Aurora said.
    However, seaborne ammonia imports carrying hydrogen from
Chile and Australia into Germany might be within the assumed
domestic production cost range by 2030.
($1 = 0.9213 euros)
 (Reporting by Vera Eckert; editing by Ed Osmond)
 ((vera.eckert@thomsonreuters.com; +49 30 2201 33654;
@EckertVera;))