By Mehmet Enes Beşer
As Southeast Asian countries attempt to adopt sustainable practices to meet energy demands and cut back on emissions, hydrogen energy presents itself as a potential game-changer. No longer seen as remote and impossible, hydrogen appears as a real alternative in the current discussion on energy and as a realistic multilateral reaction to global challenges associated with international discourse on energy, which involves decarbonizing those sectors that cannot be electrified, such as heavy industry, long-distance transport, and energy storage. As for ASEAN, an ever-growing yet environmentally intensive bloc, the implementation of hydrogen energy is more of a geopolitical issue than one of technology. Formulating the hydrogen roadmap is essentially about the right political timing, infrastructure, market setting, and industrial transformation.
The reason for hydrogen importance is rooted in the capacity of hydrogen to help decarbonize particular sectors of the economy. When derived from renewables using electrolysis—known as green hydrogen—hydrogen operates as a fuel that is completely free from fossil emissions. Even if hydrogen is obtained from natural gas and paired with carbon capture and storage processes, as so-called blue hydrogen does, it releases considerably less CO₂ than conventional fuels. Today, hydrogen finds use in different areas: decarbonization of manufacturing in the steel and cement industry, provision of energy for fuel cells for transport and energy storage in winter, and exporting the produced hydrogen in a nascent hydrogen economy. ASEAN’s interest in hydrogen is evident, even if at this moment hydrogen development is at an early stage. Countries such as Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, and Thailand started developing pilot projects, collaborating, and conducting studies to test the viability of hydrogen energy.
Hydrogen has found application in Singapore as part of its strategy of decarbonizing the economy; moreover, there are plans for implementing hydrogen as part of national energy security strategy. Malaysia, aiming to become a regional leader in green energy, integrated hydrogen into its National Energy Transition Roadmap with a special emphasis placed on hydro- and solar-based production for export. Being rich in both solar and geothermal energy, Indonesia undertook to conduct pre-studies on the production of green hydrogen energy, intending to use its natural gas pipeline for producing blue hydrogen. Economic feasibility of hydrogen energy in ASEAN depends on consumption and trading opportunities in hydrogen, as hydrogen can be used in regional decarbonization of manufacturing centers in Thailand and Vietnam, as well as a means of storing energy in the region of energy-intensive manufacturing.
Additionally, hydrogen energy might act as an option for dealing with the problem of intermittency of solar and wind energy. Hydrogen energy is becoming especially relevant when it comes to transport, although it seems that battery electric vehicles are taking the lead at the moment; nonetheless, hydrogen finds its place in freight transport, buses, trains, and ships, which are crucial parts of ASEAN’s logistics and trading operations. Hydrogen exports provide another revenue source for ASEAN countries with surplus of renewable energy, while global energy markets in Europe, Japan, and South Korea require clean hydrogen imports to ensure their net-zero targets, thus creating room for ASEAN to enter global value chains. With regard to hydrogen production, ASEAN regions with access to affordable sources of renewable energy, either hydro, geothermal, or utility-scale solar energy, might turn out to be producers of hydrogen, exporting liquefied hydrogen or hydrogen derivatives such as ammonia.
For ASEAN to succeed in becoming a hydrogen corridor, it requires investing in infrastructure, obtaining foreign certification, and aligning security and regulatory frameworks. Nonetheless, producing hydrogen raises some serious questions related to cost. Namely, it costs two to five times more to produce hydrogen from renewable energy than to obtain hydrogen from fossil fuels. Considering the fact that energy policy in ASEAN is heavily political and there are many fossil fuel subsidies, closing this gap is going to require unprecedented policy instruments. Measures include imposing carbon pricing, auctioning renewables that prioritize electrolyzers, and establishing risk-taking facilities to finance initial investment in hydrogen. Another problem associated with hydrogen is infrastructure scarcity. Indeed, new pipelines, storage facilities, fuel stations, and port upgrades are required, and sometimes existing infrastructure for natural gas is adaptable to hydrogen, though it is not always possible.
Urban planning, land use for industrial zones, and models of power systems have to be changed to fit the specificities of hydrogen: low density of energy, high flammability, and cryogenic storage while transporting. Governments should cooperate with companies and other regional players in developing infrastructure corridors for linking regions with hydrogen sources with the consumers of hydrogen. ASEAN also experiences shortage in terms of technical skills, governance, and regulatory policies. Compared to solar and wind, which benefitted from the nearly ten-year experience and reduction of costs, hydrogen still needs to be tested in ASEAN. Capacity building and education will be necessary while expanding the hydrogen sector in order to preserve environmental or social sustainability. Regional actors and ACE are well-placed to assist in developing regional hydrogen expertise, particularly in relation to those less developed member states. ASEAN is capable of implementing a phased approach toward a successful hydrogen transition.
In the short run, pilot projects and feasibility studies should receive more attention and should concentrate on transport corridors, industrial estates, and blending hydrogen into gas networks. Medium-term goals include dissemination of generic regulations, manufacture of electrolyzers on demonstration scale, and setting up regional green and low-carbon certification schemes for hydrogen. Long-term goals involve development of hydrogen hubs and creation of regional networks of power and fuel exchange to facilitate large-scale hydrogen production and exportation. The reduction in carbon emissions plays a crucial role in achieving hydrogen success.
The use of hydrogen, obtained from renewable energy and applied in high-emission sectors, can help ASEAN in reaching Nationally Determined Contributions as well as long-term net-zero ambitions. Moreover, hydrogen provides options for decarbonizing difficult-to-reduce industries, stabilizing renewable energy grids, and reducing dependency on fossil fuel imports. Nevertheless, the lack of open emissions accounting framework might create problems related to locking in emissions and postponing the transition, especially for low-carbon blue hydrogen projects. Hydrogen for ASEAN is not only a substitute fuel but rather a way of rethinking its energy system.
Indeed, hydrogen integrates electricity, industry, and transport into more coherent energy system. If ASEAN coordinates its economy with the hydrogen technology, then it might establish itself as a leading player in emerging global hydrogen economy. The task facing ASEAN is not just to adapt to a global trend but rather to create an example for the whole world to follow.