In 2017, Japan formulated a pioneering National Hydrogen Strategy envisioning a carbon-neutral “hydrogen society.” But a report from the Renewable Energy Association denounces the policy as catastrophically misguided, with 70% of the decade’s budget “spent on bad ideas.”
REI needs a complete overhaul of Japan’s strategy if it is to catch up with Europe, China and the rest of the world despite the fact that it has been ‘somewhat revised’ in the last 5-6 years claims. A kind of first mover advantage. Ideas like the futuristic Toyota/Woven Planet “Woven City” make extensive use of hydrogen canisters for home energy and fuel cell vehicles for short-distance transportation, and where things like this really work. deviates greatly fromStrategy that should aim for decarbonization is actually boosting Japan taller than In some cases emissions are falling, which is killing the country’s fledgling green hydrogen industry.
The main problem in the report titled Rethinking Japan’s Hydrogen Strategy: Beyond the Illusion of a “Hydrogen Society” It can be divided into three main areas.
1) Japan is misdirecting hydrogen
Hydrogen is a wasteful and inefficient energy carrier compared to batteries and direct electrification, so hydrogen and its carriers are best targeted to those that cannot be easily decarbonized in other ways. Understanding has been reached by most of the world. Aviation, shipping, heavy lift and steelmaking are good examples of areas where hydrogen could be a competitive solution.
Japan’s strategy, on the other hand, is pushing hydrogen heavily into passenger cars (where consumers overwhelmingly prefer battery-electric vehicles) and Ene-Farm cogeneration systems for buildings.・Efficient with heat pump. Needless to say, who wants to constantly have to replace hydrogen fuel canisters to keep their homes powered?
woven planet
“Japan’s hydrogen strategy is largely focused on ‘bad idea’ applications,” reads the report. As a result, the majority (about 70%) of the main government budget of 460 billion yen (US$3.5 billion) for hydrogen programs is directed towards fuel cell passenger vehicles, hydrogen refueling infrastructure, domestic fuel cells, etc.
Despite this level of spending, the Japanese are not chewing. Home fuel cells will be lucky if they hit one-fifth of his strategic sales target by 2030. Fuel cell vehicles are even less popular. At the current pace, by 2030 we will reach about 1/40th of our sales target. “The government’s FCV strategy was clearly a complete failure,” he said in the REI report.
2) Japan prioritizes dirty hydrogen
The strategy will rely entirely on “gray” hydrogen until at least 2030, the report said. It can be produced using methane gas in the filthy Haber-Bosch process, which produces about 6 tons of carbon dioxide per ton of hydrogen. It also burns methane for heat and contributes to methane leakage. Better than carbon dioxide in 20 years. Alternatively, it can be produced by gasification of lignite, which approximately doubles the emissions. This is a model that Japan is considering working with Australian exporters.
Early stage supply is one thing. Dirty Hydrogen is more or less the only kind currently available in large quantities. But the report also accuses Japan of not having a real roadmap towards something cleaner. and has yet to set standards for blue or green hydrogen, and governments are busy drafting laws to treat any hydrogen as good. .
This leads to ridiculous situations. The country’s Sixth Energy Strategic Plan calls for methane gas-fired power plants to co-fire 30% hydrogen gas by 2030. The power plant continued to burn methane.
Also, from an international trade perspective, Japan is incredibly disadvantaged. Other regions have put hydrogen production under tighter scrutiny, with total end-to-end emissions significantly impacting import tariffs and more. Japan encourages its industrial sector to increase emissions and reduce exports in emissions-focused global trade markets, but fails to present a roadmap that encourages companies to want to clean things up. .
Toyota
3) The country’s green hydrogen production sector lags behind
Green hydrogen currently costs several times more than blue or gray hydrogen, so even if all hydrogen is treated as good quality hydrogen and there is no indication that this will change soon, the domestic green hydrogen sector in Japan I am struggling. “Europe and China are leading, and looking at the latest developments in these countries, the extent of Japan’s lag is appalling,” reads an REI report.
For example, only two Japanese companies are considering manufacturing electrolysers, and one of them has successfully produced limited quantities. Equipment costs per kilowatt are about six times higher than Chinese competitors, and there is no indication that Japan can close that gap on its current trajectory.
Perhaps this is not surprising. Japan is one of the toughest regions in the world for renewable energy. Its solar potential is not great, its onshore wind sector is hampered by a stringent approval process, offshore wind is expensive, and nuclear is subject to some very understandable safety regulations, cost Due to the rise, and public opposition after the riots, the target is unlikely to be achieved. Fukushima disaster. Renewable energy in Japan is expensive, so producing green hydrogen in Japan is not cheap.
But as the report points out, the alternative here is to pay Australia for dirty gray hydrogen, which is often worse for the planet than the alternatives.
“If Japan does not fundamentally rethink its hydrogen strategy, its hydrogen business could lose its growth potential like solar and wind,” the report concludes. “Japan must position its hydrogen strategy as a decarbonization strategy and correct the notion that any kind of hydrogen is fine. The international supply chain you are working on will not work.
“The government will also define the applications that are really necessary to achieve decarbonization, and according to the growth rate of renewable energy, we will supply domestically produced hydrogen and partially supplement it with imports to meet the demand. If Japan changes its strategy and policies, leveraging the experience of Japanese companies in supply chain building efforts can play an important role in the global green hydrogen business. I guess.
Source: Renewable Energy Institute by Recharge
