PA’s Emerging Hydrogen & CCUS Market
How ripe are opportunities for clean energy technologies in the Commonwealth?
Team Pennsylvania fielded a 38-question survey and conducted follow-up interviews targeting large energy consumers to understand the current status of — and future opportunities for — hydrogen (H2) and carbon capture, utilization, and sequestration (CCUS) demand in Pennsylvania.
There were 23 complete survey responses from a relatively diverse set of organizations in terms of industry, size, and geography. Here are the five key findings:
- Pennsylvania organizations are familiar with both CCUS and H2 technologies, but H2 deployment plans are more mature.
- Respondents recognize the adaptability of H2, and most foresee multiple use cases for H2 in their operations.
- Power and heat generation in energy and manufacturing are the nearest-term applications for H2 in PA – assuming a competitive price.
- Potential H2 off-takers are most interested in policies that reduce the unit cost of hydrogen use and adoption.
- Unlike H2, the successful deployment of CCUS infrastructure in Pennsylvania depends on more than cost alone.
Among organizations well-versed in H2 and CCUS technologies, planning for H2 adoption appears far more advanced: projects are better defined, largely do not require substantial changes in infrastructure or business operations, and are nearer to deployment. More work is needed to spur similar advancements on CCUS.
Respondents’ relative familiarity with H2 over CCUS applications coupled with perceived barriers to deployment suggest that while CCUS may have a future decarbonizing emissions, it is unlikely to be favored over clean H2 for low-carbon power, heat, and steam generation – unless and until a price on carbon or permanent changes to tax credits make CCUS an attractive long-term investment.