Study on Hydrogen from Renewable Resources in the EU

Hydrogen can be produced from a broad range of renewable energy sources, acting as a unique energy hub providing low or zero emission energy to all energy consuming sectors. Technically and efficiently producing hydrogen from renewable sources is a key enabler for these developments.

Traditionally, hydrogen has been produced from fossil sources by steam methane reforming of natural gas. At present, the technology of choice to produce renewable ‘green’ hydrogen is water electrolysis using renewable electricity. The FCH JU has been supporting research and development of electrolyser technology and application projects, aiming to increase the energy efficiency of electrolytic hydrogen production from renewable sources and to reduce costs.

This study complements these activities by focusing on renewable hydrogen generation other than electrolysis. In this report, these alternative hydrogen generation technologies are described, characterized by their technical capabilities,
maturity, and economic performance, and assessed for their future potential.
A methodology has been devised to first identify and structure a set of relevant green hydrogen pathways (eleven pathways depicted in the figure below), analyse them at a level of detail allowing a selection of those technologies which fit into and promise early commercialization in the framework of FCH 2 JU’s funding program.

These originally proposed eleven pathways use solar thermal energy, sunlight or biomass as major energy input.