Billions in new revenue could be realized early in the transition.
Dan Rastler is the manager of EPRI’s Hydrogen-Electric Economy Program. Contact him at drastler@epri.com.
In a hydrogen-electric economy, power companies could see very large market opportunities—and play a major role in enabling and accelerating implementation. So concludes a new white paper, The Roles and Opportunities for Power Companies in the Hydrogen-Electric Economy, by EPRI and the Hydrogen Utility Group (HUG).
HUG, founded in October 2005 by nine power companies, with the support of DOE, the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), EPRI, and the National Hydrogen Association, was initiated as a way to accelerate utility integration of promising hydrogen energy-related business applications.
Meeting the needs for a hydrogen-electric economy could represent an important new convergence between the utility and transportation sectors. Our analysis indicates that, under some scenarios, annual new revenue on the order of $1 billion to $5 billion could be realized during the first-phase transition period via use of distributed electrolysis systems. The long-term revenue opportunity exceeds $200 billion/year in a fully developed market with potentially higher operating margins.