California backs blue hydrogen as solar capacity lags

Steam methane reforming with CCS can ensure rapid transition to hydrogen, US state’s Air Resources Board says in latest carbon-neutral roadmap

California’s ability to develop enough solar power capacity to produce green hydrogen at scale is highly uncertain and the state should instead initially focus on blue production methods to accelerate the transition, according to the state government’s Air Resources Board (ARB). Producing enough green hydrogen to meet the state’s targets for hydrogen demand would require about 10GW of additional solar capacity, on top of that needed for electrification, the ARB says this week in its latest scoping plan to achieve carbon-neutrality by 2045. “There is a high degree of uncertainty around the availability of solar to support both electrification of existing sectors and the production of hydrogen