Expert speakers discussed what it will take to scale up the hydrogen economy, drawing insights from the hydrogen strategies of Germany and the EU to support innovation. Sophie Gan reports.
Hydrogen is one of the upcoming technologies that is expected to play a key role in global carbon neutrality efforts. The surge in interest towards hydrogen – in particular “green hydrogen” – has developed into a wave of ambitious strategies that is sweeping across many countries, especially in Europe. SIEW Thinktank Roundtable G explored how the green hydrogen economy could be scaled up in Southeast Asia, and how hydrogen developments would affect Southeast Asia’s long-term policy visions.
Drawing insights from the EU and Germany’s hydrogen strategies
The session started off with an overview of the hydrogen strategies adopted by Europe and Germany. Dr Matthias Deutsch, Programme Lead at Agora Energiewende, shared that besides setting national targets (e.g. 5GW of electrolysers by 2030), Germany focuses on providing policy support for hydrogen projects as well as strengthening infrastructure and renewables development.
Similarly, Dr Gökçe Mete, Research Fellow, Stockholm Research Institute (SRI), highlighted that the EU Hydrogen Strategy adopts a comprehensive value chain approach to develop various aspects of the hydrogen ecosystem, as part of their plan to achieve 40GW of electrolysers by 2030.
Hydrogen developments in Southeast Asia are still in the nascent stages, and the interconnectivity between countries is much less developed compared to the EU.
ASEAN Centre for Energy (ACE) Manager Beni Suryadi said that a key challenge for hydrogen in Southeast Asia is its lack of economic competitiveness, especially for the power and transportation sectors.
In fact, Southeast Asia is not so much surfing a single hydrogen wave, but rather exploring different pools of potential opportunities, as viewed by Mr Kenneth Kong, Senior Vice President, Group Strategy & Portfolio, Sembcorp Industries Ltd.
The discussion then turned to the key factors that drive the green hydrogen economy. Dr Deutsch of Agora Energiewende opined that Germany’s ambitious goal of achieving climate neutrality is one of the main push factors for green hydrogen.
Dr Mete of SRI added that for countries like Sweden, the abundance of renewables coupled with a high carbon tax has significantly strengthened the business case.
Ms Jesse Scott, Director of International Programmes from Agora Energiewende, observed that Southeast Asian countries with abundant renewable resources could potentially draw upon this strategy.
Healthy long-term hydrogen outlook for Southeast Asia
Mr Fabby Tumiwa, Executive Director of the Institute for Essential Services Reform (IESR), shared that major industry players in Indonesia, such as oil and gas companies, have started to show an interest in hydrogen technologies.
The high wind energy resource potential in Vietnam allows green hydrogen to open up new economic opportunities, according to Ngo To Nhien, Executive Director, Vietnam Initiative for Energy Transition (VIET).
As for Thailand, Dr Sumittra Charojrochkul, Energy Innovation Research Group Director at the National Energy Technology Center Thailand (ENTEC), touched on the collaborative efforts between different stakeholders which helped develop hydrogen plans in the country.
On the additional factors needed to foster large-scale hydrogen adoption in Southeast Asia, Mr Tumiwa of IESR said that the costs of ammonia would need to come down to effectively replace natural gas as a feedstock for key industries like fertilisation.
Dr Charojrochkul from ENTEC saw the upcoming COP26 as a possible opportunity to further discuss and develop international strategies to support hydrogen, while Ms Nhien from VIET stressed the importance of capability building across all sectors to help drive our energy transition.
Follow us on Twitter (@SIEW_sg) to get the latest #SIEW2021 updates throughout the day!