The overall cost of hydrogen in 2020 came out to about $1.60/kg in curtailed energy and electrolysis scenarios. Our model estimates that blue hydrogen costs about $1.30/kg and that gray hydrogen produced via steam methane reform will cost roughly $0.70/kg in 2020.
Cost per gallon: $1.00 – 1.80kg (gge) Source cost: $1.50 per 1000/gal. or $0.0015/gallon 2 Refinery Costs: $700 – $3,500/bpd Miles per kg of Hydrogen: 81 Additional Environmental Impact Costs: No. Foot Notes: 1. Hydrogen is measured by the kilogram. 1 kilogram is 1 gallon of gasoline equivalent (gge).
In 2021, hydrogen retailed $8.50/kg to $10.80/kg higher than gasoline prices matching the same fuel cost per mile for hybrids or conventional gasoline vehicles respectively. Hydrogen has been used commercially for over 80 years, so it is well developed.
Regions with cost-competitive natural gas resources and CCUS, such as the Middle East, Norway, and the United States, are expected to have the highest cost competitiveness and could potentially account for 30 percent of exports at production costs of below $1.5/kg by 2050.
Fuel price assumptions: natural gas – USD 1.4-6.3 per gigajoule (GJ) (2019) and USD 1.7-7.0/GJ (2050); coal – USD 1.6 3.8/GJ (2019) and USD 1.0 2.2/GJ (2050); electricity – USD 36 116 per megawatt-hour (MWh) (2019) and USD 20 60/MWh (2050).
Depending on regional gas prices, the levelised cost of hydrogen production from natural gas ranges from USD 0.5 to USD 1.7 per kilogramme (kg). Using CCUS technologies to reduce the CO 2 emissions from hydrogen production increases the levelised cost of production to around USD 1 to USD 2 per kg.
The production cost of hydrogen from natural gas is influenced by a range of technical and economic factors, with gas prices and capital expenditures being the two most important. Fuel costs are the largest cost component, accounting for between 45% and 75% of production costs.
The average levelized cost of blue hydrogen is 59% cheaper than green for projects financed in 2023 due to a drop in forward gas prices since our 2H 2022 update. Still, green H2 now undercuts blue H2 1-3 years earlier in all modeled markets.
A look at Platt''s hydrogen price wall, which shows the cost of hydrogen produced in different regions, suggests that, while some projects manage to come in at $50-$100 per MWh, the
ICCT green hydrogen production cost estimates for 2030 in the European Union and United States under different technology-improvement scenarios. Circles represent the regional average and bars show the range of estimated production costs in all U.S. regions and EU countries.