Hydrogen energy has been in the news recently, and it is important to understand this new technology, how hydrogen fuel fits into the energy system, and why it is controversial.
Before you can use hydrogen as fuel, you must extract it from the molecules where it occurs, and then transport it to where you need it. This is like the oil or gas business; you need large industrial plants, pipelines, and trucks. Fossil fuel companies view hydrogen as their preferred form of clean energy: They want to repurpose their oil and gas plants and pipelines to make hydrogen fuel instead, which is expensive but better for them than downsizing their operations as fossil fuels are phased out.
Hydrogen can be separated from other molecules by several different industrial processes. A color-based classification system has sprung up to identify hydrogen by production method (e.g., grey, pink, blue, or green).
Grey hydrogen is created using a process called steam-methane reforming that separates hydrogen atoms from carbon atoms in methane. “In steam-methane reforming, high-temperature steam under pressure reacts with methane in the presence of a catalyst to produce hydrogen, carbon monoxide, and a relatively small amount of carbon dioxide,” according to the US Energy Information Administration (EIA).
The methane used is typically natural gas, so producing grey hydrogen requires continuing to extract and transport natural gas, unless producers find a way to use biogas, such as methane produced in landfills. Often, customers receive grey hydrogen mixed with natural gas and promoted as a “lower carbon” type of gas for home heating and cooking. Grey hydrogen currently “accounts for nearly all commercially produced hydrogen in the United States,” the EIA says.
Blue hydrogen production also uses steam-methane reforming but adds carbon capture and storage to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
Pink hydrogen uses nuclear energy and a process known as electrolysis to extract hydrogen from water. Pink hydrogen is considered cleaner than grey hydrogen because electrolysis involves fewer direct greenhouse gas emissions.
There are other shades of hydrogen fuel, but from an environmental point of view the best type is green hydrogen, which uses electrolysis powered by renewable electricity like wind and solar. Recently it was revealed that the Atlantic Shores wind project, to be located offshore from Atlantic City, will include a pilot project with South Jersey Industries (SJI) to create green hydrogen. This hydrogen will be delivered to customers in a natural gas blend.
The current configuration of the hydrogen fuel industry provides support for oil and gas industries, and some government leaders see it as beneficial, yet in the environmental community there is discomfort with the many compromises involved in hydrogen production, such as greenhouse gas emissions and continued, heavy reliance on natural gas.
In October, the Biden Administration announced a $7 billion program to kickstart a “clean hydrogen” energy economy by creating seven “hydrogen hubs.” This would allow the types of hydrogen production listed above.
West Virginia, Ohio, and Pennsylvania, for example would use the region’s natural gas to support hydrogen production with carbon capture—blue hydrogen. A “Mid-Atlantic Clean Hydrogen Hub” (MACH2)—Pennsylvania, Delaware, and New Jersey—would use nuclear energy to create pink hydrogen.
MACH2 would repurpose much of the existing energy infrastructure of the region, including pipelines and the Salem nuclear plant. The plan is enthusiastically embraced by new Board of Public Utilities President Christine Guhl-Sadovy.
Former Senate President Sweeney, who has supported the jobs that offshore wind energy will create, also favors MACH2: “President Biden’s announcement of a $750 million grant for our region’s hydrogen hub cements South Jersey more than ever as the epicenter for alternative energy,” he said.
The Delaware Riverkeeper Network has stated it is opposed to the MACH2, saying it perpetuates and enlarges current fossil fuel extraction, especially fracking, and diverts critical funding from renewable energy efforts. “The MACH2 hub is supposed to use nuclear, fracked gas, and wind and/or solar. The use of nuclear energy at MACH2 is expected to come from PSEG’s nuclear power plants in Salem County, NJ. But these are already nearing the end of their targeted life; the Salem Nuclear Generating Station inflicts significant environmental harm as it is, and extending operations of these facilities is unacceptable,” the group said.