Green hydrogen in the chemical industry - Key factors and cost competitiveness

Energy sources such as electricity and natural gas prices have the most significant impact on the competition between green and gray hydrogen. The broad fluctuation of prices on the energy markets already leads to competitive situations at times. Capital expenditures would have to fall considerably to reduce the cost of green hydrogen, while a less mature technology choice can lead to much higher costs. The possibility of reducing costs through additional full load hours is limited due to the asymptotic behavior. Carbon capture as a substitute source for carbon only has a relatively minor impact on the economic viability of green hydrogen, even though direct air capture can currently increase costs slightly. On the fossil generation side, the price of
$\text{CO}_2$
-certificates has a minor influence on hydrogen costs at the current price level and spread of the auctions. It is clearly dominated by the natural gas price.