SHELL AND EBI HYDROGEN ECONOMY WORKSHOP

BACKGROUND

The challenge of drastically reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) during the 21st century requires a multi-dimensional strategy, and one of the critical elements is the use of Hydrogen with low GHG footprint. Developing a viable supply chain for Hydrogen requires a cost-effective production and distribution, sufficient demand (scale), and a regulatory structure that would provide an incentive to facilitate the introduction of an economically viable Hydrogen supply chain.

​

This workshop aims to address these issues focusing on the US (in particular, California markets). We will consider the challenges and opportunities of the Hydrogen production from both renewable resources (Green) and fossils with carbon capture (Blue). We will also focus on the US Gulf coast/Texas, which is an ideal location for the production from Natural Gas with carbon capture and storage (CCS). The hosts of the workshop are Shell and the Energy & Biosciences Institute (EBI), which is a collaborative research network of University of California at Berkeley, University of Illinois’s Champaign Urbana, and Lawrence Berkeley Lab.

​

The workshop will identify the opportunities, demand, and constraints for establishing the Hydrogen supply. Both the opportunities as well as challenges are affected by government policies, and we will hear representatives of the Federal and State governments, providing their perspective on reliable Hydrogen. We will learn about the results of research in universities, government, and companies that have identified some of the opportunities to supply clean Hydrogen. We will determine the possibilities to use Hydrogen in different sectors, including ports, transport, data centers, forklifts/warehouses, concrete, and blending into natural gas supply chain. Finally, we will organize discussion groups where participants will address some of the significant issues associated with the supply of Hydrogen, government policy, and demand.

​

The first day will mostly address supply and regulation. The second day will provide an overview of opportunities for demand. We aim to get a better understanding of some of the opportunities that can incentivize the development of an extensive infrastructure, which will target supply in California. We would also like to quantitatively assess the amount of Hydrogen that various sectors envision they are likely to demand under different scenarios.