The viability of implementing hydrogen in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts

Abstract

In recent years, there has been an increased interest in hydrogen energy due to a desire to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by utilizing hydrogen for numerous applications. Some countries (e.g., Japan, Iceland, and parts of Europe) have made great strides in the advancement of hydrogen generation and utilization. However, in the United States, there remains significant reservation and public uncertainty on the use and integration of hydrogen into the energy ecosystem. Massachusetts, similar to many other states and small countries, faces technical, infrastructure, policy, safety, and acceptance challenges with regards to hydrogen production and utilization. A hydrogen economy has the potential to provide economic benefits, a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions, and sector coupling to provide a resilient energy grid. In this paper, the issues associated with integrating hydrogen into Massachusetts and other similar states or regions are studied to determine which hydrogen applications have the most potential, understand the technical and integration challenges, and identify how a hydrogen energy economy may be beneficial. Additionally, hydrogen’s safety concerns and possible contribution to greenhouse gas emissions are also reviewed. Ultimately, a set of eight recommendations is made to guide the Commonwealth’s consideration of hydrogen as a key component of its policies on carbon emissions and energy.

Estimate of the wind energy needed to replace natural gas with hydrogen, and electrify heat pumps and automobiles in Massachusetts

“…For example, production of green hydrogen is currently not cost competitive compared to gasoline or methane on an energy basis, transportation and storage can be a challenge, hydrogen causes embrittlement in some types of steel pipes and is susceptible to leaking, pipe replacement or retrofitting is not a straightforward process, and hydrogen suffers from public acceptance issues associated with its safety. A more detailed review of the challenges and opportunities of implementing hydrogen within Massachusetts can be found in (Hammerstrom et al, 2022a(Hammerstrom et al, , 2022b. Likewise, electrification of our society faces other issues including: limited availability of renewable energy resources, the lack of charging stations for automobiles, an insufficient electrical transmission and distribution infrastructure to accommodate increased electrical load, permitting restrictions of new power lines, and public acceptance of heat pumps and EVs.…”

“…Companies in the U.S., such as National Grid, have developed projects similar to HyDeploy, where a smaller blend of hydrogen is supplied to the natural gas system, but on a much larger scale, heating hundreds of households (NationalGrid, 2021). An overview of hydrogen and a summary of the challenges and opportunities of implementing hydrogen within Massachusetts can be found in (Hammerstrom et al, 2022a).…”

Water Splitting as an Alternative for Electrochemical Hydrogen and Oxygen Generation: Current Status, Trends, and Challenges

“…However, the production of green hydrogen entails high electrolysis potential causing high-energy consumption, which hinders its up-scaling application and deployment. Therefore, great efforts are needed to pay for the transition to a hydrogen economy both in the development of cost-effective materials with high efficiency and simplifying the electrocatalytic system components for large-scale applications and reducing totals cost [7][8][9]. It is known that green hydrogen can be produced by water electrolysis or water splitting using the excess of electrical energy from renewable sources such as solar panels or wind turbines, but this requires effective and durable electrode materials with high electrochemical activity [10,11].…”