Green hydrogen has the potential to lower emissions across various sectors, including ammonia and methanol production, oil refining, transportation, and power generation. To be considered ‘green’, hydrogen must be produced using an electrolyzer that is powered by renewable energy. Electrolyzers take water as an input and use electricity to split the water into oxygen and hydrogen. Therefore, green hydrogen production requires access to renewable energy and water. However, water may prove to be a scarce resource for green hydrogen production in certain regions due to large swaths of the country experiencing some level of prolonged drought, some even since 2000. In today’s Energy Market Insight, we’ll consider the potential impacts proposed green hydrogen projects could have on water usage.
The map below shows county drought scores for 2021. Scoring is based on drought…