Russia places new emphasis in the development strategy of hydrogen energy.

On October 26, the interdepartmental working group on the development of hydrogen energy in the Russian Federation, headed by Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak, approved a revised draft of an appropriate Comprehensive Program that will determine the formation of the industry until 2035. It is expected that in the near future, having passed all the necessary approval procedures, this program will be approved. It will include several strategic planning documents that exist today, in particular the Concept for the Development of Hydrogen Energy in the Russian Federation, an Action Plan (roadmap), as well as agreements with key companies Gazprom and Rosatom on the development of high–tech areas. The result will be a balanced document prepared with the participation of a large number of experts.

Nowhere without hydrogen

The parameters of the developed Comprehensive Program, as well as various other aspects of the development of the Russian and global hydrogen market, were discussed at the recent International Hydrogen Conference (IH2CON), held in Moscow, at the Metropol Hotel.

In the world, hydrogen is considered as one of the potential energy carriers capable of providing a solution to the problem of climate change and energy transition. Geopolitics has played a very serious role in the further greening of the economies of many countries, which has led, among other things, to an acceleration in the development of hydrogen energy. Thus, the total volume of investments in hydrogen production, planned on the horizon until 2030, reaches $240 billion. At the same time, investment decisions have already been made on projects worth $22 billion (their total number is approaching 700), some of them have entered the implementation stage. The market for "gray" hydrogen today is 90 million tons per year, and the current production volume of low–carbon H2 is 40 thousand tons.

At the same time, as the figures of the latest report of the International Hydrogen Council indicate, the imbalance between domestic production and consumption of hydrogen will increase. Therefore, by 2030, about 65 million tons of hydrogen will be transported over long distances between countries. This means that the market will almost double only due to the international supply of new volumes of hydrogen (and this will be mainly low-carbon hydrogen).

Is there a place for Russia?

What is Russia's place in the global hydrogen market? This is really a big question. The Government assumes a figure of 1 million tons per year, that is, about 2% of global supplies. In a more favorable scenario, it is worth counting on a market share of at least 5-10%. But in any case, the Government promises to pay great attention to the development of hydrogen energy. And although in 2022 there was some forced "braking" in the field of the climate agenda, in the long term this topic will not go into the background and will subsequently be updated.

It is worth noting that the Comprehensive Program for the development of the low-carbon hydrogen energy industry in the Russian Federation until 2035 was initially developed with the involvement of expertise from market players. 25 companies from various fields of activity took part in its development, from potential hydrogen producers and consumers to the banking sector. By the beginning of 2022, the program was in a high degree of readiness, but then it had to be adjusted to take into account shifted priorities and other realities of today.

What is this adjustment? If earlier the main goals were to export hydrogen and gain worthy positions in the global energy markets, then in the current situation it would be too optimistic to set yourself such an ambitious task. Therefore, the main priorities should be the development of technologies and their export as a final product.

In addition to focusing on the development of domestic technologies, the program focuses on the development of a national hydrogen qualification and certification system, as well as on the creation of test sites and mass production of a line of industrial products using hydrogen.

 U-turn to the East

On the horizon until 2035, demand for hydrogen with a volume of more than 30 million tons per year will be formed in the markets friendly to the Russian Federation. As a result, the need for technological solutions, components for equipment, etc. will increase significantly in these countries. In this regard, the bet on building up technological potential in Russia by stimulating R&D is a completely logical move.

In our country, there is quite a lot of groundwork for the development of technologies for the production, transportation, storage and use of hydrogen. Many of these technologies are at the prototype stage, and many are already being implemented in pilot projects. As these technologies are developed, Russian hydrogen will become in demand both in the domestic and foreign markets. At the same time, the most promising hydrogen consuming countries (given the deficit in their energy balance) are India and China.

The Indian and Chinese areas of cooperation in the Government are called priorities both in the formats of the BRICS, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), and in the framework of bilateral cooperation. However, the key area will be partnership with the BRICS and BRICS+ countries, and the necessary tools are already available for this. Thus, the BRICS Energy research platform operates on the basis of the Russian Energy Agency (REA), and agreements have already been reached with partners in this international association within its framework.

Of course, on the horizon until 2030, the Russian hydrogen industry needs support from the state, primarily in terms of the formation of the domestic market. At the same time, large public and private companies and development institutions are able to share the risks of the state in the implementation of pilot projects and ensure their real scaling. Support is also necessary for the development of domestic technologies.