MOSCOW, May 31. /TASS/. Hydrogen technologies have the potential to match the economic efficiency of conventional solutions across a number of industrial sectors given energy prices that remain constant at today’s levels, the Russian National Hydrogen Union (NHU) told TASS.

"The time to reach parity in economic efficiency between hydrogen technologies and conventional solutions is becoming shorter amid rising energy prices. Parity may be reached within the next five years in certain industries given energy prices that remain constant at today’s levels," NHU head Denis Deryushkin said, as quoted by the organization.

The NHU estimates that investments in planned hydrogen projects globally will reach $320 bln by 2030, but thus far final investment decisions (FIDs) have been made for less than 10% of the required investments. "Implementation of more than 1,000 hydrogen projects has been announced worldwide to date, but FIDs were approved for only $29 bln out of [overall planned] investments totaling $320 bln," the expert said.

"The process of decarbonization being initiated by the world’s largest economies is impossible without hydrogen use. Hydrogen is an optimal solution for cutting emissions across an entire range of economic sectors," Deryushkin noted. Meanwhile, hydrogen technologies have been characterized to date by their high cost due to a lack of operational production and infrastructure capacities, as well as shortages of qualified staff and safety issues.