22:06 16 February 2021
Hydrogen becoming key fuel of future
Generating electricity from hydrogen is not a new topic. The first scientific articles about the hydrogen economy began to appear in Poland in the 1990s, and in the world a few years earlier. However, as the development of the hydrogen economy is closely related to the development of renewable energy sources, it has become a top topic in recent years – as the struggle to decarbonize world economies has accelerated. This is because when energy management is based on renewable energy sources, a way to store and stabilize the electricity supply is needed. This is where hydrogen comes in handy. We are currently waiting for the development of technology in the field of fuel cells that will allow us to generate electricity from stored hydrogen. There are centers in Poland that are involved in the production of such cells. So there is a chance that Poland will find itself in the group of global producers and suppliers of new hydrogen technologies.
“The hydrogen economy is developing in the context of decarbonization and achieving climate neutrality. We need a molecular carrier to replace fossil sources as a permanent source of electricity. Now gas is starting to play such a role – as a fuel with fewer emissions than coal, but it is a temporary situation. From now on, hydrogen should be used in parallel to gas, and after 2040 this gas should be replaced,” Magdalena Maj, a senior analyst of the energy and climate team at the Polish Economic Institute (PIE), told eNewsroom.
“Investments related to the development of gas networks are therefore not unjustified. After appropriate adaptation, they can also be used to transport hydrogen. More and more countries plan to base their energy economy on hydrogen. Japan developed its hydrogen strategy at the end of 2017. Although it originally assumed the use of high-emission hydrogen, it is now moving towards green solutions. The hydrogen strategy has also been published by many other countries – both within the EU and outside Europe. The hydrogen economy may therefore become the future of the global energy sector,” Magdalena Maj predicts.
