NPHyCo organises webinar on economics of nuclear produced hydrogen

On 13 January 2025, NPHyCo partners Commissariat à l’Energie Atomique et aux Energies Alternatives (CEA) and Tecnatom co-organised the third webinar in the series on nuclear and hydrogen co-generation, dedicated to the economics of generating hydrogen from nuclear. ​

Following an introduction by project coordinator Canet Serin, the floor was given to Tecnatom’s Cecilia Herrero Moriana, who presented the financial modelling work carried out in the framework of the project. She detailed the different estimations that were made for costs and revenues, based on simulations of different parameters, such as the level of integration of the hydrogen production plant and nuclear power plant, or the electrolysis method used.

She added that beyond the integration scenario and the electrolysis method, production strategies also affect cost projections, noting that a price-based strategy where hydrogen production is favoured when electricity prices are low and power generation is favoured when electricity prices are high maximises benefits.
 
Stephanie Crevon, from CEA, then gave an overview of current and future hydrogen markets. She highlighted that hydrogen is currently mainly used for refining, ammonia production and other chemical processes, but that future demand is set to expand to other sectors, such as steel or Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) production.

Stephanie further noted that demand for low-carbon hydrogen could amount to between 5.7 and 6.4 Million tonnes by 2035, and that leveraging solutions to reliably produce low-carbon hydrogen is key to meeting that demand. She added that a stable regulatory framework is also needed to incentivise low-carbon hydrogen production.

As a conclusion to the webinar, Cecilia Herrero Moriana highlighted that the price of nuclear produced hydrogen could become competitive in the medium term, but stressed that research and development activities and investments should be ramping up, and that projects need to be supported by subventions and favourable policies.
 
Following a final Q&A session, Canet Serin reminded all participants that registration for the NPHyCo Final Conference, which will be taking place in Brussels on 11 February 2025, is now open.