Can clean hydrogen power the future?

Zero-emission, clean hydrogen production remains a challenge for the energy sector to overcome, raising the question of whether it can still contribute to power a net-zero future. For Alan Cortizo of Mitsubishi Power, there’s very little doubt: the answer is yes.

Cortizo, Mitsubishi Power’s VP of Sales for Europe, explained during an exclusive interview at Enlit Europe that one of the key reasons for this is in hydrogen’s huge capability to balance the grid.

“At the end of the day, 60% of CO2 emissions are coming from power generation, so if we really want to decarbonise, we have to go ahead and tackle this sector now, no matter what.

“We are doing it by increasing the capacity of renewables in the grid, but the more we increase the capacity of renewables, the more we need grid balancing systems.”

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Herein lies the problem, says Cortizo, as well as the solution that hydrogen provides.

“This [balancing] cannot be done only with batteries because there’s not enough capacity…so hydrogen will play a vital role in this.

“So gas turbines, combined cycle power plants, are as of today the main source of grid balancing systems.

“Given our grids and the health that they need to accommodate the extreme increase in renewables every year, hydrogen will become the clean fuel of the future and, hopefully, of the present.”

Watch the rest of the interview to hear Alan Cortizo’s insights into futureproofing infrastructure for power system stability and what is needed to scale the clean tech up.