White Hydrogen: Earth's Hidden Fuel with Big Potential
Deep in a forest in the German state of Bavaria, Jürgen Grötsch fights his way through low-hanging branches. He is heading for a secret location hiding a bounty worth millions. If tapped successfully, it could change clean energy generation around the world. The treasure in question is a rare form of hydrogen that flows naturally from the ground.
In a quiet Bavarian wood, geologist Jürgen Grötsch and two students drill a one‑metre borehole, insert a gas sensor and "sniff" the ground. When the readout climbs to just over 500 parts per million—roughly 0.05% of the sample—Grötsch treats it as a breakthrough: about 1,000 times the hydrogen concentration found in ambient air.
Hydrogen is widely promoted as a decarbonization tool for high‑heat sectors such as shipping and heavy industry because burning hydrogen produces no carbon dioxide. Global demand for hydrogen could triple by 2050, according to the International Energy Agency, but production is the bottleneck: most hydrogen today is derived from fossil fuels, and less than 1% is produced by renewable‑powered electrolysis, which remains costly.
Natural, or "white," hydrogen offers a different route. Formed deep in the Earth over geological time by reactions between water and certain rocks, it can be generated through serpentinization, where iron‑rich mantle rocks react with water at 200–350°C and free molecular hydrogen. That gas can migrate upward through fractures and collect in porous reservoirs such as sandstone, trapped beneath impermeable layers.
Estimates suggest roughly 5.6 trillion tonnes of hydrogen exist in the crust, though much lies too deep to recover economically. A 2024 analysis by the US Geological Survey argued that extracting just 2% of that resource could meet global hydrogen needs for around 200 years.
Practical examples are scarce but telling. In Bourakébougou, Mali, a natural hydrogen well has powered local electricity for more than a decade, producing about 49 tonnes a year—small compared with typical fossil gas wells but proof that continuous production is possible. Flow pressures there have remained steady for 14 years, implying the reservoir is being replenished; if extraction stays below recharge rates, the resource can behave like a renewable one.
Grötsch plans a commercial project in Bavaria targeting production at about $1 (€0.87) per kilogram, comparable with fossil‑derived hydrogen. He aims to extract about 1,000 tonnes per year by 2030 from a reservoir roughly 1,500 metres deep, and to use the site's geothermal heat for district heating as a backup if hydrogen yields fall short.
Challenges remain: only a few countries formally classify natural hydrogen as a resource, creating permitting and subsidy hurdles. With limited proven commercial projects, major oil and gas companies are cautious, leaving startups to de‑risk operations. Analysts predict that once a sizable commercial producer emerges, interest and investment will accelerate.
Outlook estimates differ. Consultancy Wood Mackenzie’s best‑case projects about 20 million tonnes of natural hydrogen a year by 2050, which the IEA estimates would cover roughly 6.7% of expected demand. For pioneers like Grötsch, the work feels historic: "We are at a stage where 150 years back, the oil and gas industry was," he says. Researchers and entrepreneurs hope white hydrogen can become a meaningful, lower‑carbon complement to manufactured hydrogen as the energy transition unfolds.