Siemens Gamesa announces plan to reduce cost of “green” hydrogen

Renewable energy has continued to grow in popularity as a ‘green’ alternative to its nonrenewable counterparts. Siemens Gamesa, a global wind turbine company based in Spain, has laid out a plan to lower the cost of producing “green” hydrogen. Hydrogen can be used in sectors from industry to transportation and can be produced in several ways. Hydrogen produced using renewable electricity (such as wind or solar) is considered “green” or “renewable” hydrogen. However, the current production of hydrogen uses fossil fuels because using the renewable sources is expensive.

According to Siemens Gamesa “green” hydrogen production using wind turbines could reach price parity with traditional fossil-based hydrogen by the year 2030. Siemens Gamesa released a white paper that outlined four key areas to help drive down this cost:

1)      Increasing renewable energy capacity

2)      Creating “a cost-effective demand-side market for green hydrogen”

3)      Development of a supply chain

4)      Support for infrastructure

Andreas Nauen, the companies CEO, stated: “it took three decades for wind and solar to reach grid parity with fossil fuels, and we cannot afford to wait that long for green hydrogen to reach price parity with fossil-based hydrogen.”

On June 7th, 2021, the US Department of Energy launched the Energy Earthshots Initiative. The first focus will be cutting the cost of producing “green” hydrogen to $1.00 per 2.2lbs in the next 10 years. Currently, the cost of “green” hydrogen is around $5.00 per 2.2lbs. The US Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm stated that this will help to “decarbonize high-polluting heavy-duty and industrial sectors.”