Singapore eyes hydrogen in net-zero quest

SINGAPORE has set its heart on low-carbon hydrogen as a potential fuel to help speed up its clean energy goals – to hit net zero by 2050. If it works according to plan, by 2050, up to half of the city-state’s power sector, which currently accounts for 40 per cent of total emissions, could be hydrogen-powered.

It is a bold move given the current state of play in the hydrogen space, although Singapore is far from alone. It joins thus far some 26 countries with national plans earmarking low-emission hydrogen as a pillar of their energy sector’s green strategies. It also appears to be an ambitious goal, coming in at the higher end of the Energy 2050 Committee Report released in March this year. The report, commissioned by the Energy Market Authority, painted a set of possible scenarios in Singapore’s quest to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050. It envisaged that low-carbon hydrogen could account from as low as 10 per cent to as much as 60 per cent of the city state’s energy supply mix, depending on several factors, chiefly technological advancement.

In recent years, hydrogen as a global pathway to decarbonise has gained tremendous momentum owing to unprecedented investments as well as public funding and policy support. Even so, the reality of hydrogen as a decarbonisation tool, albeit a hopeful one, is that it is some way from widespread adoption. Hydrogen-related technologies are still at a nascent stage of development, with limited commercial opportunities over the short term for now. Also, there is no global supply chain for hydrogen.