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4.1.3 Barriers of Transition to Hydrogen Economy
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These incentives are to be submitted to MIDA by 31 December 2020. However, MIDA is currently trying to negotiate an extension with the relevant authorities. To make Malaysia a pioneer in the hydrogen economy, the incentives should be extended.
4.1.3 Barriers of Transition to Hydrogen Economy
Barriers to Hydrogen Infrastructure Development
Hydrogen infrastructure is one of the main challenges in the transition to a Hydrogen Economy. It involves the safe production, delivery, and storage of hydrogen to power fuel cells in various applications. The hydrogen infrastructure also includes hydrogen refuelling, hydrogen distribution systems and low-cost renewable hydrogen generation.
The first main barrier in hydrogen infrastructure development is the high cost of fuel cell deployment and hydrogen infrastructure development. Components of hydrogen infrastructure such as pipelines, compressor stations, storage tanks and liquefaction plants are costly to develop, construct and operate. In addition, the local hydrogen supply chain is limited and inadequate to justify the costly infrastructure.
The second main barrier is inadequate support for hydrogen energy in the National Energy Policy. There is no clear strong policy on hydrogen energy. There are no Malaysian standards and policies regarding fuel cells and hydrogen energy. There are also no proper guidelines, technical codes and standards to support the hydrogen infrastructure.
The third barrier is the limited financial and human resources available for investments in the hydrogen economy. There is also a lack of funds from the industry for R&D in fuel cells and hydrogen energy. As a result, very few local hydrogen energy and fuel cells products could be commercialised successfully in the global marketplace.
Finally, there is public uncertainty in hydrogen energy. There is low consumer confidence in fuel cell technology due to issues in hydrogen safety. This is because there is a lack of public awareness and advocacy on hydrogen energy as safe zero-emission energy. Hydrogen energy suffers from false public perception of hydrogen safety. There are also a few proven track records of successful hydrogen energy deployment in the few demonstration projects, mainly in Europe, US, Japan, China and Korea.
Barriers to Fuel Cell Applications
The main fuel cell applications are in industrial, public and private transport, stationary applications for distributed electricity generation for homes and buildings and portable power applications. Other interesting applications are micro combined heat and power (mCHP), backup power for remote and shipboard facilities.
The main barrier of fuel cell applications is the high costs of fuel cell components and parts. The Pt on the electrodes and the proton exchange membranes are costly. Fuel cells R&D is focussed on reducing the cost of both the electrochemical catalysts by more dilute dispersion of the Pt or by replacement with cheaper transition metal alternatives and the proton exchange membrane by developing alternative cheaper membranes.
