Over the past few decades, we’ve observed a monumental shift in the energy landscape as utilities move from traditional fossil fuel sources to more sustainable and renewable alternatives. Solar, wind and hydro have each made their marks, but there’s a relatively new player in the game that’s gaining momentum: hydrogen.
The International Energy Agency (IEA) anticipates hydrogen will play a leading role in decarbonizing the energy sector by 2050 and considers it to be a bridge fuel for utilities aiming to reach net-zero emissions. This is especially top of mind as the combination of aggressive decarbonization goals and an abundance of funding opportunities for these types of initiatives has utilities around the world searching for cost-effective, low-carbon energy carriers like hydrogen.
In recent years, Itron has conducted research with universities, collected industry reports and white papers, participated in the NEWGASMET project on a standardization framework and gathered utility feedback to define our hydrogen strategy. To help validate our early assumptions, Itron created a whitepaper titled Evaluating Hydrogen Compatibility: A Framework for Natural Gas Metering Devices, which discusses how gas utilities can prepare for the integration of low-carbon hydrogen and leverage the benefits. To download the white paper, we asked interested readers to complete a brief questionnaire about their company’s interest in pursuing hydrogen.
From the time of publication in July 2022 to March 2023, 82 respondents completed the survey. Most of the respondents were from gas utilities in the U.S., but also spanned the United Kingdom, Netherlands, Canada, South Korea and Australia. Approximately 70% of respondents are planning a pipeline composition of up to 20% hydrogen.
In Itron’s newest report, The Future of Hydrogen in Natural Gas Pipelines, we share more results of the survey and an analysis of how utilities across the globe are planning to adopt hydrogen as a viable, scalable and sustainable energy carrier moving forward. As hydrogen integration increases, Itron will continue to be a leader in the hydrogen market and a trusted partner to our customers, ensuring they are well informed and well equipped to achieve their decarbonization goals today and in the future. For more information on hydrogen, read the blog, Getting Ready for the Future of Gas.
Emilio Consonni has been involved in the metering industry for more than 30 years. He has held various positions at Itron, starting with R&D, actively engaged in meter remote reading and electricity grid management projects, up to marketing and sales roles around electricity and gas metering.
After graduating in electronic engineering at the University Politecnico of Milan, Emilio joined industry discussions about metering standards, legal metrology and communication protocols. Today, he sits in leading positions in national and international standardization boards, working closely with international regulatory bodies, from which he has been awarded for his contribution to the standardization work. Throughout his career, Emilio Consonni has led various European research projects on metering the energy of gas.
In his current position, he’s responsible for the marketing of gas devices, supporting the definition portfolio strategy, and facilitating market introduction
