Countries generally believe that climate change is a major problem that needs to be solved urgently. More and more countries are developing greenhouse gas reduction plans, drawing decarbonization roadmaps, and promoting energy system transformation.
By developing a combination of renewable energy technologies, energy storage technologies and smart grid technologies, a large number of end-use applications will be decarbonized in the coming decades. As more countries promote deep decarbonization strategies, the green technology of electrolysis of water to produce hydrogen is expected to become the core of energy transformation and an important part of the clean energy landscape. The International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) pointed out that to achieve the climate goal of limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius, hydrogen should account for 12% of energy consumption by 2050.
In this context, only by vigorously promoting the electrolysis of water for hydrogen production, can the growing demand for green hydrogen be met. The production of green hydrogen requires the use of renewable energy. By 2030, global hydrogen production capacity from water electrolysis should increase from about 0.5 GW currently to 350 GW. To this end, it is necessary to greatly expand the scale of water electrolysis hydrogen production equipment, so that water electrolysis hydrogen production can play a key role in the decarbonization of the national economy. At present, some countries have set the goal of deploying electrolyzed water hydrogen production devices in their hydrogen energy development strategies.
The so-called water electrolysis hydrogen production technology is to use water and electricity as raw materials to produce hydrogen, which is a set of chemical processes that have been well-known in the industry. To promote hydrogen production by electrolysis of water on a large scale, it is very important to reduce the cost of hydrogen production, and the cost reduction needs to be achieved through continuous innovation of technology.
IRENA pointed out that through measures such as improving electrolysis units, increasing economies of scale, replacing scarce materials with common metals, and improving operational efficiency and flexibility, it is expected to reduce the cost of electrolysis of water for hydrogen production by 40% in the short term, and in the long run, the cost is expected to be reduced by 40%. 80% lower. Rapid decay is common in electrolyzers, so development efforts should focus on improving process efficiency and extending the life of the technology as much as possible
