According to Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak, the most promising approach to manufacture hydrogen presently is to use nuclear power plant energy to produce yellow hydrogen. Speaking at the Gaidar Forum, he stated this viewpoint.
However, gray and blue hydrogen (steam reforming of methane) generated from natural gas is currently the simplest and cheapest method. Because it necessitates the employment of CO2 extraction technology and its subsequent disposal, blue hydrogen is more costly, according to Novak. The most costly method of producing green hydrogen relies on solar and wind energy. According to the Deputy Prime Minister, green hydrogen will take a long time to become competitive.
According to Novak, Russia is now actively involved in the development of hydrogen energy; we are global leaders in this field; nevertheless, it is now employed exclusively in the manufacturing of fertilizers, oil products, and a small amount of metallurgy. There is now no market, and around 80 million tons of hydrogen are generated globally. Hydrogen is expected to be employed as a large-scale energy storage medium in the future. It can be utilized for transportation, housing, communal services, and energy in the future. But no one knows what this market will look like just now. We might grab around 20% of the global market in the future, according to Novak.
According to Rosatom CEO Alexei Likhachev, the cost of yellow hydrogen is currently around $6-8 per kilogram, while the market price is $1.5-2.