This opinion piece is part of a series from Energy Innovation’s policy experts on advancing an affordable, resilient and clean energy system.
Green hydrogen, to the extent it is needed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, is also a promising clean source of much-needed grid flexibility. It is a fungible energy carrier that is an essential ingredient to fertilizers and can also be burned for heat or turned into more stable liquid fuels and various feedstocks. When hydrogen is produced by electrolyzers that split water into oxygen and hydrogen using carbon-free electricity, it is labeled green (or clean).
Electrolyzers consuming electricity selectively to produce hydrogen makes commercial sense. If they do this by being responsive to prices or other incentives, they can play an important stabilizing role in a clean, reliable…