Hydrogen Aviation: The Chances, The Costs, The Future

Hamburg Aviation Green

What links Airbus' ZEROe project with Germany's salt caverns?

Hydrogen. A promising carbon-free fuel, it's an attractive energy vector for Hamburg's future energy needs. Industry and the City of Hamburg are investing heavily in hydrogen infrastructure and research. Moving from fossil aviation fuels to hydrogen is going to be a complex, costly business. According to a recent study by Transport and Environment, the price tag of transitioning aviation to hydrogen in the EU could be up to €300bn.
Too expensive? As one of the contributors to the study, Lukas Sens of the Technical University of Hamburg, notes, compare that to the €161bn net income of Saudi Aramco in 2022. And the same study estimates that up to 65% of intra-EU aviation could be fuelled by hydrogen by 2050. And that the cost per passenger flying on a hydrogen-fuelled plane might be only 7% more than using fossil kerosene.
On this episode of Hamburg Aviation Green, Lucas gives us a deep dive on the techno-economic issues surrounding hydrogen adoption in aviation. We talk about carbon pricing and trading, ticket prices on LH2-fuelled planes, sector coupling and energy sovereignty, to name just a few.
But what about the salt caverns? They could reduce the cost of green hydrogen by up to 50%. How? Listen in and find out.
This episode is the last in this season of Hamburg Aviation Green. Make sure to check out some of our recent episodes, including hydrogen at Hamburg Airport, accelerating innovation at ZAL, sustainable cabins, life cycle assessments and much more.
Get in touch with Lucas here:
Lucas Sens on LinkedIn
Find out more about sustainability projects in Hamburg's aviation cluster here:
Hamburg Aviation Green

Recent work and contributions by Lucas in his research on the hydrogen economy:
Analysing the Costs of Hydrogen Aircraft (PDF)
Green hydrogen supply for heavy duty-vehicles
Capital expenditure and levelized cost of electricity of photovoltaic plants and wind turbines