Green hydrogen, according to a Goldman Sachs study, may supply up to 25% of the world’s energy needs by 2050 and grow to a 13 trillion euro market. However, before then, the issue of hydrogen storage and transportation must be resolved.
Only CO2-free hydrogen produced through renewable energy sources is long-term sustainable. However, it will be some time before enough hydrogen is available to fulfill expanding demand. This is due to a scarcity of green electricity. Among the numerous alternative manufacturing techniques available today, the most popular is the manufacture of blue or gray hydrogen from natural gas.
Numerous industrial processes in the future will utilize green or blue hydrogen or its derivatives, such as ammonia and methanol. Hydrogen, in particular, can assist reduce the carbon footprint of businesses with a high carbon footprint, such as transportation, chemicals, and iron and steel production. These are responsible for around 7% of worldwide CO2 emissions each year. The huge number of possible applications, however, is outweighed by hydrogen’s scarcity and expensive manufacturing costs.
Governments have set equivalent sustainability targets in line with the European Green Deal, which calls for a minimum of 55% reduction in emissions by 2030 and a climate-neutral Europe by 2050. They are mostly reliant on hydrogen to accomplish these goals. Numerous businesses are also taking steps to accelerate the transition to sustainability and digital transformation in the EU. For example, the European CEO Alliance was created by twelve CEOs from significant European business enterprises to make real recommendations for action and to assist companies in adopting sustainable corporate governance. This cooperation is founded on the premise that no single company can address the world’s largest challenges alone. To flourish, businesses must interact across value chains, form strategic alliances, and partner with governments and institutions.
One outcome of these cross-company initiatives is a project devoted to accelerating the entire green hydrogen value chain, from production to transportation, storage, sales, and energy consumption. Rather than operating in isolation, different market sectors must collaborate.
The first prototype of a green hydrogen platform built on SAP Analytics Cloud appears to be promising. The platform aggregates data from all stakeholders in the hydrogen value chain, enabling businesses to make more data-driven decisions. The era of convoluted spreadsheets has passed us by. Rather than that, a utility can now use the platform as a primary data source for conducting simulations and doing various computations, such as: How much energy can be generated? How much should be delivered to the electrolyzer, and how much gasoline do vehicles, families, and various sectors require?
The success of such platforms is contingent upon the establishment of a transparent end-to-end value chain for green hydrogen. With SAP’s GreenToken supply chain solution, businesses can follow the journey hydrogen takes via electrolyzers and energy carriers along the supply chain: from production to the energy consumer. The blockchain technology serves as the foundation for this. The solution is intended to offer auditable documentation of the amount of hydrogen that is green, blue, or gray. GreenToken can also be used to track emissions classified as category 3. These occur as a result of long-distance hydrogen imports. Businesses can use the data to demonstrate that the hydrogen they acquire is actually environmentally friendly. Additionally, they can monitor how much CO2 was generated during the journey from the manufacturing facility to the customer site. This manner, they’ll know how much compensation they’ll need to make in order for their hydrogen to be regarded 100 percent green once again.
