Hydrogen demand to grow with increased energy demand
February 14, 2014 | By
Barbara Vergetis Lundin
Overall demand for hydrogen as a fuel are projected to grow, largely due to increased energy demand, requirements to use curtailed renewable energy, growth in the cleantech backup power market, and deployment of a growing number of fuel cell-powered vehicles in the transport sector.
Historically, the hydrogen energy market has been centered on the petroleum refinery and chemical manufacturing sectors. But since 2011, interest in hydrogen for the energy storage market along with the rise in usage of hydrogen in the fuel cell sector has seen increased utilization of hydrogen outside of these sectors, according to Navigant Research. In fact, Navigant predicts this growth to accelerate sharply over the next 16 years with hydrogen consumption for non-traditional applications outside the petroleum and chemical sectors growing from 168 million kilograms (kg) in 2013 to nearly 3.5 billion kg in 2030. "While hydrogen has historically been a valuable commodity gas, today, it is increasingly recognized as an important fuel and energy storage vector of the future," said Kerry-Ann Adamson, research director with Navigant Research. "Increased energy demand, requirements to use renewable energy, growth in the cleantech backup power market, and the deployment of a growing number of fuel cell-powered vehicles in the transport sector will all push overall demand for hydrogen as a fuel to unprecedented levels." The stationary sector, primarily focused on providing backup and prime power to mobile telecommunications base stations, is expected to lead hydrogen demand through 2030, according to the research, due to current levels of adoption. Those levels are much higher than in any other sector, and a healthy projected growth rate for fuel cell power stationary systems. China and a number of African countries are already pushing for the adoption of fuel cells for their telecommunications networks, a high percentage of which run off hydrogen. For more: © 2014 FierceMarkets, a division of Questex Media Group LLC. All rights reserved. http://www.fierceenergy.com/story/hydrogen-demand-grow-increased-energy-demand/2014-02-14 |