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OGEL Call for Papers: Special Issue on the "Hydrogen Economy"

23 June 2020

Oil, Gas and Energy Law Intelligence (OGEL, ISSN 1875-418X, www.ogel.org) invites submissions for a Special Issue focusing on legal, political, contractual and market aspects of hydrogen. The editors for this issue are Dr. Cameron Kelly, General Counsel, Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA), Dr. Moritz Wüstenberg, Senior Researcher, UEF Law School, Dr. Sirja-Leena Penttinen, Assistant Director, Tulane Center for Energy Law and Professor Kim Talus, James McCulloch Chair in Energy Law and Director, Tulane Center for Energy Law Tulane Law School; Professor of European Economic and Energy Law, UEF Law School; Professor of Energy Law, University of Helsinki.

The hydrogen economy is currently one of the key emerging areas of the global energy sector. 'Hydrogen Economy' refers to the vision of using hydrogen as a clean, zero-carbon energy resource to meet the world's energy needs, replacing traditional fossil fuels and forming a substantial part of a clean energy portfolio. As a clean, flexible, high energy density fuel, hydrogen constitutes a significant area of interest for most economies. The United States, the European Union, Japan, China, Australia and others are ramping up their efforts to move towards a hydrogen economy.

While hydrogen as an element is the most abundant element in the universe its diatomic H₂ gas which can be utilized as a clean combusting energy source, has to be produced industrially. The most common and established process is steam reforming of either natural gas or coal. Steam reforming is in essence a thermal process in which the oxygen atom from the steam binds to carbon to form carbon monoxide releasing diatomic hydrogen.

 

H₂O + CH₄ ⇌ CO + 3 H₂

 

Hydrogen produced by this method is typically referred to as "grey" hydrogen due to the emission released into the atmosphere during production. If this type of hydrogen production is coupled with carbon capture and storage or other utilization of the associated emission, the resulting hydrogen is referred to as "blue" hydrogen.

The term "green" hydrogen is typically reserved for hydrogen that is produced by electrolysis using electrical current produced by renewable energy sources, such as wind or solar. Electrolysis is in essence the breaking of water molecules through direct current into hydrogen and oxygen.

 

2H₂O → 2 H₂ + O₂

 

While producing green hydrogen is desirable from an environmental perspective, the vast majority of global hydrogen production is based on steam reforming. For this special issue, we invite contribution related to grey, blue and green hydrogen.

As an environmentally friendly source of energy which produces only water and heat when combusted, hydrogen has the potential to be a game changer in the energy world. While hydrogen is nothing new and has been used as a feedstock in several industrial processes including refining of crude oil and the production of ammonia fertilizers, hydrogen can also be used for power generation, land, sea and air transportation as well as storing energy from (intermittent) renewable sources.

Like most unconventional sources of energy, hydrogen requires state support in its infant stages. While many countries are ramping up their efforts to support the emergence of a hydrogen economy, related legal, contractual and (geo)political issues require further thinking and research.

Clearly, the hydrogen economy is currently one of the key issues that requires further attention from policy makers and technology companies. Enabling wider hydrogen usage will require the engagement of engineers and technical experts, as well as the attention of policy makers and lawyers.

This OGEL Special Issue seeks to provide information on national and international legal, regulatory and policy approaches to hydrogen. We encourage the submission of relevant papers, studies, and brief commentaries on various aspects of the subject. The topics may cover a wide range of issues relating to hydrogen under national laws, national support schemes, contractual questions relating to hydrogen, geopolitical consequences of movement towards hydrogen as well as specific case studies.

In particular, we are interested in contributions in the following areas:

• Hydrogen and the role of the private and public sectors
• Policies, fiscal and other forms of regulation aimed at developing and implementing hydrogen as a source of energy
• Policies targeted to stimulate investment in all forms of hydrogen and related commercial and contracting issues
• Existing policy gaps
• International trading of hydrogen and standardisation

Proposals should be submitted to the editors at your earliest convenience, final papers to be submitted before 1 October 2020.

Editors:

Papers Please CC info@ogel.org when you submit material or have any questions.

The minimum word count of articles should be 5000 words (excluding footnotes, endnotes, appendices, tables, summary etc.). Articles should include summaries (150-200 words). The layout of the articles should conform to OGEL's submission guidelines available at: www.ogel.org/contribute.asp (more information available upon request).

Feel free to forward this call for papers to colleagues who may be interested in contributing to the special issue.

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