Nuclear power for pink hydrogen: Reliable and cost-effective

In October 2023, the US government announced funding of $7 billion for seven regional hubs meant to produce hydrogen. The hubs aim to reduce the carbon footprint by shifting hydrogen production away from the traditional process that involves cooking methane under high pressure with steam. Instead, the hubs will produce hydrogen in a way that produces water as exhaust when combusted. The Department of Energy (DOE) funded the hubs including producers and customers and aims to work together to build up storage tanks, pipelines, and other infrastructure. The goal of these hubs is to promote hydrogen adoption by making it more accessible and sustainable.

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Various key players are starting to produce hydrogen from nuclear energy and the government-providing subsidies to reduce their production cost is escalating the pink hydrogen demand. Constellation began production at the nation’s first one-megawatt demonstration-scale nuclear-powered clean hydrogen facility in May 2023. The state-of-the-art facility shows the importance of producing hydrogen through carbon-free nuclear energy to mitigate the effects of the climate crisis. The clean Hydrogen Generation System at Nine Mile Point operates using 1.25 megawatts of zero-carbon energy per hour, producing 560 kilograms of clean hydrogen daily. This amount is more than enough to meet the plant’s operational hydrogen needs. Additionally, it will serve as a model for potential large-scale deployments at other clean energy centres in Constellation’s fleet that would combine clean hydrogen production with storage and other on-site uses.

Further, according to French bank Lazard, using electrolyzers powered by nuclear energy could result in cheaper hydrogen production in the United States as compared to using green hydrogen facilities connected to renewable energy sources. The bank’s regular levelized cost of energy report stated that hydrogen produced using electricity generated from nuclear power plants, also known as pink hydrogen, could offer a levelized cost of hydrogen (LCOH) for as low as $0.48/kg, with subsidies granted under the US’s Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), using a 100MW alkaline electrolyzer.

On the other hand, green hydrogen, even with subsidies, could only produce a best-case LCOH of $0.83/kg with an alkaline electrolyzer, based on the average levelized cost of energy of an onshore wind plant. Without subsidies, the LCOH for pink hydrogen would range from $2.75-5.29/kg, depending on the size of the hydrogen plant (within a range of 20-100MW) and the electrolyzer technology used. The range for green hydrogen is $3.47-7.37/kg. The higher capacity factors that nuclear power plants can achieve are the primary reason for the difference in LCOH.

Green hydrogen plants can only attain capacity factors of 55%, whereas pink hydrogen facilities can achieve up to 95% due to the steady baseload power profile of nuclear power, in contrast to the variable and intermittent power supply from renewable sources. This implies that a pink hydrogen plant can produce nearly 63% more hydrogen per installed kWh of electrolyzer capacity than a green hydrogen facility.

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Conclusion

Pink hydrogen, a type of hydrogen produced using nuclear power, has the potential to play a significant role in the United States’ clean energy future. The U.S. government has shown support for pink hydrogen through various initiatives and subsidies to lower the cost of its production, making it more competitive with other forms of hydrogen and fossil fuels in various industries, such as power generation and heating. However, the development of pink hydrogen faces challenges such as public perception of nuclear energy and the high initial capital costs. Moreover, the future of pink hydrogen production in the U.S. is uncertain due to the potential limiting of tax credits by the Biden administration.

Despite these challenges, the U.S. Department of Energy has announced hydrogen hub funding, which is expected to facilitate growth for the clean hydrogen industry. Pink hydrogen subsidies and recent production in the United States show promise for the development of a sustainable and competitive clean energy source. However, further support and investment are needed to fully realize the potential of pink hydrogen in the U.S. energy sector.

According to the UnivDatos Market Insights analysis, the growing investment in clean energy is driven by the global scenario of the pink hydrogen market. As per their “pink hydrogen Market” report, the global market is at a CAGR of 31% during the forecast period from 2023 – 2030 to reach USD 27.67 Billion by 2030.