CONTEXT & INTRODUCTION
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1.2 The Inspiration While California has its unique context, it can look to countries that have already embarked on similar decarbonization journeys to understand the role clean fuels and a clean fuels network can play in achieving deep decarbonization. There are three key challenges that other regions tackling climate change are also working to solve: (1) transitioning to a decarbonized energy system while maintaining system resiliency and affordability; (2) decarbonizing hard-to-abate sectors such as industry and heavy-duty transportation; and (3) reducing risk along the transition to full decarbonization as technologies mature and policies evolve. The analyses supporting this study, and learnings from around the world, demonstrate that a clean fuels network is important to solve these challenges. Germany is a global leader in decarbonization, quickly ramping renewable capacity in the 2000s to 2010s. As Germany has pushed further towards decarbonization, it has realized the need for clean fuels. Germany is making strides in developing a clean fuels infrastructure, initiating a National Hydrogen Strategy which includes a $10 billion stimulus package to ramp up clean fuels technologies and international partnerships. With a forecasted hydrogen demand of approximately 100 TWh by 2030, up to 5 GW of total electrolyzer capacity is to be built by 2030. Germany’s National Hydrogen Strategy highlights the use of green hydrogen to replace grey hydrogen in the steel, cement, and chemical industries as a main goal.27 To deliver this hydrogen from production sites to demand, the German gas Transmission System Operators (TSOs), have presented a map of a 5,900 km of hydrogen pipeline network, 90% of it envisioned to be developed leveraging existing natural gas pipelines. The TSOs plan to build out 1,200 km by 2030, with 1,100 km of this built from repurposed natural gas pipelines.28 Japan’s Green Growth Strategy includes hydrogen and clean fuels more broadly to help the country reach a carbon-neutral future. Japan is committing $19 billion to support green technologies, including the development of technology that uses hydrogen as a fuel for thermal power generation, while also anticipating widespread use of hydrogen for transportation and industry. Japan is pioneering the production of liquified hydrogen and the development of a global hydrogen supply chain, starting with routes between Australia and Japan.29
27German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy, “National Hydrogen Strategy,” pp. 9-10, October 2020, available at: https://www.bmwi.de/Redaktion/EN/Publikationen/Energie/the-national-hydrogen-strategy.pdf?__blob=publicationFile&v=6. 28FNB Gas, “Transmission system operators publish H2 starter network 2030,” May 14, 2020. 29Japanese Ministry of Economy, Trade, and Industry, “Green Growth Strategy Through Achieving Carbon Neutrality in 2050,” December 2020, available at: https://www.meti.go.jp/english/press/2020/1225_001.html.
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