Hydrogen
Overview
Hydrogen is an increasingly important piece in the decarbonisation puzzle. Industrial players are seeking ways to take carbon emissions out of their hydrogen production processes, while green hydrogen producers see the gas as a viable outright alternative to hydrocarbons.
Future production routes range from methane reformation with carbon capture to pyrolysis, waste gasification and electrolysis, powered by renewable energy or fossil fuels. Combinations of processes and energy being used to produce hydrogen presents existing users of industrial heat and key chemicals a challenging landscape to navigate.
The Argus Hydrogen and Future Fuels service has been designed to provide industrial power, chemicals and energy users with crucial information to help them make well informed decisions. It covers the upstream for projects, midstream for transportation and storage, and downstream for ammonia and methanol. It also covers the latest technological developments and policy news on hydrogen from across the globe.
Latest hydrogen news
Browse the latest market moving news on the global hydrogen industry.
H2 sector wary as EU closes in on low-carbon H2 rules
H2 sector wary as EU closes in on low-carbon H2 rules
London, 7 March (Argus) — As the European Commission edges closer to publishing its long-awaited low-carbon hydrogen regulation expected this month, there is much at stake for prospective producers within the bloc but also potential overseas suppliers, according to industry association Hydrogen Europe. The European Commission said in its Clean Industrial Deal from late February that it intends to adopt a delegated act defining low-carbon hydrogen this quarter , following publication of a draft last summer and subsequent consultation with stakeholders. The EU has already set a CO2 emissions threshold of 3.38kg of CO2 equivalent for low-carbon hydrogen, but the delegated act will settle the details for a range of production pathways that do not fall under the EU's already-adopted definition of renewable fuels of non-biological origin (RFNBOs). These include electrolysis from non-renewable power such as nuclear or waste incineration, gas reforming with carbon capture, and methane pyrolysis. Hydrogen Europe is hoping that the adopted text — which would then require approval from the European Parliament and member states — will entail some changes it says are key to unlocking nuclear-powered hydrogen and to ensure a fair reflection of emissions from gas-based production. The association has urged the commission to allow companies buying nuclear power via power purchase agreements to factor this into their emissions calculations rather than having to use a default number that stems from the CO2 intensity of the respective country's grid. This is the only way that grid-connected projects could move ahead in countries with low renewables penetration and otherwise large swathes of production could potentially be ruled out, industry participants have said. The industry body has also stressed that the EU should let gas-based hydrogen producers use project-specific figures for upstream methane emissions rather than a blanket number irrespective of the location. Such a change could potentially advantage Norwegian producers with typically lower upstream emissions over producers in the Middle East and parts of the US. The EU's proposal to consider such changes only by 2028 would leave lingering uncertainty that could deter investment, according to Hydrogen Europe. The group's chief executive Jorgo Chatzimarkakis said the sector "desperately needs legal certainty" and complained that missing deadlines has "become standard rather than an exception" for the commission. Other industry participants have previously made similar arguments around emissions calculations for nuclear power and for upstream methane emissions and many have stressed the need for certainty around the definition. The rules are crucial because low-carbon hydrogen will be needed "in the market ramp-up phase" as "renewable hydrogen is not yet available in sufficient quantities or at sufficiently affordable prices," Chatzimarkakis said. Moreover, many renewable hydrogen projects will probably have to pivot their electrolysers to make low-carbon hydrogen in spare hours to shore up their business case. Curbing low-carbon hydrogen volumes with tight rules inadvertently weakens the case for investment in midstream infrastructure that is essential in the long term, Chatzimarkakis said. This debate on measuring the emissions of hydrogen production is the latest in a slew of painstaking procedures globally, as rule makers have tried to enshrine best practices without overly regulating the nascent industry. The EU took around two years to define renewable hydrogen and the process was hardly quicker in the US. The previous US administration of president Joe Biden clarified rules for its 45V hydrogen production tax credits in early January. It listened to pleas from producers and will allow them to use project-specific emissions calculations that might give the EU food for thought — although the future of the clean energy incentives including 45V is unclear following the return of Donald Trump to the White House in January . By Aidan Lea Send comments and request more information at feedback@argusmedia.com Copyright © 2025. Argus Media group . All rights reserved.
Average bids in second EU H2 bank round below €0.70/kg
Average bids in second EU H2 bank round below €0.70/kg
Paris, 6 March (Argus) — Average subsidies requested by EU project developers in the second round of the European hydrogen bank were below €0.70/kg, roughly half of the pilot auction's average. The European Commission has yet to announce the winners of the second auction which closed on 20 February, but preliminary info it has released indicates lower bids and less participation from fewer countries than in the pilot auction. The commission received bids for 61 projects in 11 countries, down from 132 spread across 17 member states in the pilot . The combined subsidy amount requested was €4.88bn to support cumulative production of 7.3mn t of renewable hydrogen over the 10-year support, which would yield a volume-weighted average (VWA) of submitted bids of €0.67/kg. In the pilot auction, overall requested support was around €12bn for 8.8mn t of cumulative output, implying a VWA of roughly €1.36/kg. The bidding projects in the second round would have a combined electrolyser capacity of 6.3GW, down from 8.5GW in the pilot. This suggests that the average size of participating projects increased to around 103MW from 64MW. The anticipated average output per MW of electrolyser capacity rose to around 115 t/yr from 103 t/yr. While the overall requested grant volume was down considerably from the pilot, it still exceeded the EU's €1.2bn budget for the second round more than four times. Of the €1.2bn budget, €200mn was set aside for projects specifically targeting offtake in the maritime sector and eight of the 61 bids were for this segment, the commission said. Projects from Spain, Austria and Lithuania could get support even if they miss out on the EU-wide budget as their national governments together made nearly €900mn available for projects in their respective member states through the "auctions-as-a-service mechanism", effectively lifting the second round budget above €2bn. Winners are due to be announced by May-June and will be selected purely on the bids they submitted, with those requesting the lowest subsidies to be granted the support. The pilot auction had cleared at €0.48/kg, with seven projects selected for cumulative support of €720mn. The lower VWA in the second auction could suggest that winning bids might be lower than this. That said, the lower VWA might be partly the result of developers that participated with high bids in the pilot — when some bids went up to the €4.50/kg ceiling — not having participated in the second round as they may have seen little chance of winning with their requested support. This could mean that bids are more closely concentrated around the VWA this round. Lower participation may have also been the result of stricter rules around the use of Chinese electrolysers introduced for this round. Only projects that source no more than 25pc of their electrolyser components from China were eligible to participate, which may have disqualified some projects that bid in the first round. The commission also increased the completion guarantee for this round. A third hydrogen bank auction is due to be launched later this year , with a €1bn budget. By Stefan Krumpelmann and Pamela Machado Send comments and request more information at feedback@argusmedia.com Copyright © 2025. Argus Media group . All rights reserved.
Q&A: Ocior touts Indian H2 drive, urges rule tweaks
Q&A: Ocior touts Indian H2 drive, urges rule tweaks
Mumbai, 6 March (Argus) — Indian company Ocior is developing renewable hydrogen and ammonia projects in India and Egypt. Its most advanced project in Odisha, India, will be developed in two phases — 200,000 t/yr in the first and 800,000 t/yr in the second — with plans to take a final investment decision (FID) for the first phase by September. Argus spoke with the firm's founder and chief executive, Ranjit Gupta, about India's regulatory framework for green hydrogen and progress of the company's projects. Edited highlights follow: How is India faring in development of the hydrogen sector? India is actually doing a very good job by creating a market for 200,000t/yr of green hydrogen use in refineries. The central government has allocated this capacity across various refineries, which are coming up with individual tenders for hydrogen plants to be put up at or around them. One tender by [state-owned refiner] IOC is already closed and other tenders are expected to close in March and April. Once a price for green hydrogen is discovered through these tenders, it will really help the industry move forward. If the government is able to demonstrate that there is offtake available, there will be no dearth of investments in this sector. What more can the government do on the regulatory side? There are a lot of things that the government could potentially do. The objective is to get green hydrogen and green ammonia costs as low as possible. And you do that by at least bringing it down on par with current grey hydrogen and ammonia prices. Both grey hydrogen and ammonia are produced from natural gas. India imports most of its natural gas, and all of it is denominated in dollars. But the refineries and [state-owned] SECI [Solar Energy Corporation of India] are giving us rupee pricing. We have requested dollar pricing—that could help us drive the cost of debt down. If you have a dollar offtake, you can go for a dollar debt, which means you don't have to hedge the dollar to rupee. Another thing, when setting up a green hydrogen and green ammonia project, it should be recognised that we are replacing imported goods. Therefore, the industry should receive benefits that help reduce taxes. If I can reduce my taxes and cost of debt, that will really help in reducing my capital expenditure number, ultimately bringing down the cost of hydrogen and ammonia. Earlier, selling renewable energy from one special economic (SEZ) zone to another was not allowed, but the government has fixed that. But selling renewable energy from an export-oriented unit to an SEZ is still not allowed. The ministry of new and renewable energy (MNRE) has been trying for last two years to get it changed at the behest of the industry. Additionally, you cannot sell excess energy outside the SEZ. That needs to change. The regulator could define taxes I have saved and determine a tariff adjustment if I sell excess renewable energy to the domestic tariff area. There are several small things like this which we are requesting the government to do. And MNRE has done a fabulous job in trying to get these things done. But when it becomes inter-ministerial, the process is drawn out a little longer. How are your projects progressing? We have two projects — in Egypt and Odisha, India. We hope to FID the first phase of the Odisha project by September, and the Egypt project by March next year. But further progress will depend on offtake. For our Odisha project, we have acquired land and started front end engineering design (FEED) study. We have contracted Norwegian company Aker solutions to work on the FEED study. We have awarded ammonia licensor contract to [US engineering firm] KBR and green certification study to [German certification provider] TUV Rheinland. We have already completed geotechnical studies. We are in discussions with GRIDCO [Grid Corporation of Odisha] for renewable power. So, a lot of progress has been made. The issue is offtake. If we are able to determine that, then we could potentially start construction of the project by August- September. We have signed a memorandum of understanding with an European trader, Ameropa, and are in discussions with other Japanese and European companies for offtake. Plus, we are going to take part in the SECI's green ammonia tender. Are you facing any challenges in developing the project in Egypt? Every country is different. In Egypt, the big advantage is that solar and wind resource are fantastic, much better than India. No issue with land availability — we have been allocated 600 km² of land for the wind project and around 11,000 acres for solar projects by the Egyptian authorities. That's a big advantage over India, where land is always a challenge to aggregate. On the regulatory framework, both countries are similar. The disadvantage of Egypt is that they don't have a good electricity grid. India has great infrastructure for project development and construction. And you will not have a problem with labor or skilled engineers. Egypt might not have that available. So, there are advantages and disadvantages to each country. How much does compliance with EU standards on renewable fuels of non-biological origins impact production costs? The biggest issue is temporal correlation. If they could do away with it, that would make things easier. In dollar terms, the difference in production costs would be close to about 10pc for the price of ammonia. The EU green lobby needs to realise that the more stringent they make green standards, the further away the pricing will be from grey hydrogen, making it more difficult for consumers to accept green hydrogen. This will also leave the doors open for blue hydrogen, which will come in somewhere in the middle. By starting with less restrictive covenants, not compromising on carbon content, green hydrogen pricing can be more competitive than blue hydrogen for EU. By Akansha Victor Send comments and request more information at feedback@argusmedia.com Copyright © 2025. Argus Media group . All rights reserved.
UK govt consults on ‘clean energy future’ for North Sea
UK govt consults on ‘clean energy future’ for North Sea
London, 5 March (Argus) — The UK government has launched a consultation on the North Sea's "clean energy future", seeking to balance "continued demand for oil and gas" with the natural decline of the North Sea basin, the country's energy security and climate science. The government has proposed an end to new onshore oil and gas licences in England — as onshore licensing is a devolved matter — and once again confirmed its manifesto pledge for no new oil or gas licences for North Sea exploration. It also confirmed a previous commitment to end the so-called windfall tax on oil and gas producers in 2030. Further oil and gas licences "would not meaningfully increase UK production levels, nor would they change the UK's status as a net importer of oil and gas", the government said. It flagged the North Sea basin's maturity, which means that an absence of new licences makes only "a marginal overall difference to future North Sea production". The "vast majority of future production is expected to come from producing fields or fields already being developed on existing licences", the government said. It noted that while offshore licensing rounds have resulted in up to 100 permits each time, under 10pc of recently issued licences "have progressed to active production". But its halt on new exploration licences would not preclude any licence extensions being granted, the government said. It aims to provide "certainty to industry about the lifespan of oil and gas projects by committing to maintain existing fields for their lifetime". The decision does not affect the issuing of new gas or carbon storage licences, it added. Focus on 1.5°C The consultation also doubles down on the government's previous commitments to "clean power" by 2030 — which would entail a small role for gas-fired power generation, of under 5pc — and its determination to be a leader in climate action. "The science is clear that the world needs to take urgent action and that current plans for global production of oil and gas are not compatible with limiting global warming to 1.5°C," the government said. The Paris climate agreement seeks to limit global warming to "well below" 2°C above pre-industrial levels and preferably to 1.5°C. The government has requested views on its plans to ensure a "prosperous and sustainable transition for oil and gas" and to make the UK a "clean energy superpower", focused on technologies such as offshore wind, hydrogen and carbon capture, use and storage (CCUS). This will boost the UK's economy and energy security, the government said. "Clean energy" is key for energy security, as a reliance on fossil fuels leaves the UK at "the mercy of global energy markets", it added. "CCUS will be a critical component of the UK's energy transition," the government said. It also noted the geological advantage the UK holds for CO2 storage. There is "significant potential for CO2 import", likely from Europe, it said. The government has also sought extensive feedback on the transition for the country's oil and gas workforce. An "offshore renewables workforce" could stand at between 70,000 and 138,000 in 2030, it said, while oil and gas jobs are set to decrease, alongside the North Sea's fossil fuel production. Today's consultation will close on 30 April. And the government will publish its final guidance on an updated environmental framework for oil and gas "in good time", it said. By Georgia Gratton Send comments and request more information at feedback@argusmedia.com Copyright © 2025. Argus Media group . All rights reserved.
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