Cost Estimation in the Implementation of New Technologies: The Case of Green Hydrogen

The undoubtful effects of global warming, which have altered the planet's climate, making extreme weather events more frequent and impacting the economies of vast territorial areas, have brought to the attention of the scientific community the issue of reducing greenhouse gas emissions in recent years. In this perspective, “green” hydrogen, generated with renewable electricity through electrolysis that splits water molecules into hydrogen and oxygen, plays a critical role in enabling countries to design targeted interventions to achieve net-zero emissions. Despite active support for research and development in electrolysers, green hydrogen is currently 2–3 times more expensive than “blue” hydrogen, and much more expensive with respect to the typical energy sources. Therefore, the practical implementation of such technology involves a cost analysis that encompasses every production aspect, in order to improve its market appeal. In this work a general review considering the issue of cost estimation for new technology and new processes has been carried out, in order to discuss the peculiarity of green hydrogen case among technologies dedicated to large-scale energy production, highlighting its critical aspects and specificities in relation to the unpredictability of future economic scenarios.