Alvarez and Marsal Spring 2024 Project
Potential Evolution of the Low Carbon Hydrogen Industry and Opportunities
for Management Consultants
Alvarez & Marsal (A&M) is a global professional
services firm
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A&M is a global professional services firm
with 8,500+ employees and offices in 37 countries
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The client is the energy practice within Alvarez
and Marsal’s (A&M) Corporate Performance Improvement team
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Its Corporate Performance Improvement practice
assists organizations tackle complex business issues, boost operating
performance and maximize stakeholder value.
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A&M’s energy practice serves an advisor to
companies across all segments of the energy value chain, including oil and gas,
refining and petrochemicals, renewable energy and power.
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Wade Stubblefield and Nick Carnrite are Managing Directors of
A&M and will be the client for the project
Low carbon hydrogen is likely to be an important part of the
global transition to a low carbon energy system
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The hydrogen industry today is based primarily
on fossil fuels which produce high carbon intensity hydrogen, primarily for the
refinery and chemical industries.
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As part of the global transition to a low carbon
energy system, low carbon hydrogen and its derivatives are likely to be
important energy carriers as well as clean fuels for direct use or as
feedstocks to produce other low carbon fuels.
•
As a result, low carbon hydrogen is likely to
become a significant global industry, many times the size of the current
hydrogen industry with different markets and participants.
The project objective is to identify how the global hydrogen
industry might evolve and what related opportunities will be for management
consulting services
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The scope includes both “green” hydrogen (from
electrolysis using low carbon electricity) and “blue” hydrogen (from natural
gas reforming with carbon capture) and derivatives (especially ammonia,
methanol).
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The scope will cover (1) the value chain
(production, transportation, and end use of hydrogen) and (2) the supply chains
for key enabling materials and equipment (critical minerals, electrolyzers,
etc.).
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A key focus will be on how markets will evolve
and who the key players might be
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The primary focus will be on the U.S. hydrogen
market; however, insights are also welcome about emerging hydrogen markets
internationally.
The work should focus
on addressing several key questions
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What might the hydrogen value chain and key
supply chains look like in over the next 30 years in terms of nature, location
and size? How might that evolve over this period? What role is the US expected
to play?
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What types of companies are likely to be key
investors and operators?
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What role does / will the government play in
incentivizing investment and supporting project economics?
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What are the likely economic, regulatory, and
stakeholder challenges these companies will face in building the US value chain
and key supply chains? Note: efforts to understand regulatory and stakeholder
challenges should be focused on the US.
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What management consulting services might
exist for companies involved in the US low carbon hydrogen value chain?
Student work is to be based on publicly available information.
attached is what I have done so far, but still need a lot of work.