An Activity in Japan for Realizing CO2-Free Hydrogen Global Supply Chains

The current basic energy plan of Japan was authorized in the Cabinet in June 2010, in which ambitious energy and environmental targets and policies giving nuclear power a pivotal role toward 2030 were described. At present, the Japanese government has been forced to review the basic energy plan in the wake of the great east Japan earthquake occurred on March 11, 2011 followed by the severe accident at the nuclear power plants in Fukushima. Before the disaster, the IAE （institute of applied energy） had realized that it was not clear how CO2-free hydrogen would contribute to solving various energy and environmental issues, or that prospects were not clear for large demand of CQ-free hydrogen other than FCVs （fuel cell vehicles）. In this connection, the authors organized a voluntary ＂Concept Study Group （in short）＂ in March 2011 and held four meetings until the end of March 2012. Through the quantitative studies using IAE＇s simulation model （GRAPE）, the common recognition was built in the concept study group that hydrogen could contribute to energy security and increase in zero-emissions electric power ratio in Japan. It was also estimated that global CO2-free hydrogen supply chains could be realized by degrees after 2020. Based on these results, the authors made a proposal that hydrogen should be added in the primary energy constitution for new basic energy plan to the Japanese government because imported hydrogen could be considered as a pseudo-primary energy like LNG （liquefied natural gas）. Now, the succeeding ＂Action Plan Study Group （in short）＂ has been held focusing on hydrogen demand in various applications, future pictures of CO2-free hydrogen chains and road maps. Activity results of the ＂Concept Study Group＂ are shown here.