Hydrogen
Hydrogen is a key element for Europe to achieve its climate goals. The European Hydrogen Strategy is an important building block of Europe’s energy policy. Billions in hydrogen subsidies under the EU Hydrogen Initiative are intended to advance the technology. To achieve this, more electricity must come from renewable energy sources. Solar, wind and hydroelectric power are essential for the production of green hydrogen. Up to now, natural gas has been the most important raw material in hydrogen production. All news on this topic is available from the Table Media editorial team.
Why is hydrogen considered the key element of the present in Europe?
Hydrogen technology is considered a key element of European energy policy because of its versatility. Compared to electricity, hydrogen has the advantage of being a good energy store that users can easily store and transport via pipelines. It can thus be used where processes are difficult to electrify.
For example, hydrogen can replace coal and natural gas in steel production or ammonia production. In heavy-duty transport, hydrogen is an alternative to diesel. The first hydrogen trains are already in operation. Here, hydrogen is converted into electricity via a fuel cell. Car manufacturers have also been researching this technology for passenger cars for decades. Hydrogen can also be used to produce synthetic fuels that can be used in aviation or shipping.
What is green hydrogen?
So-called green hydrogen is regarded by many as the hydrogen technology that can become the solution to the climate crisis and energy transition. This is because hydrogen only occurs on earth as a compound. If you want to use pure hydrogen, you have to separate it. At present, Europe’s hydrogen producers still use other sources. 96 percent of hydrogen comes from the splitting off of natural gas. This produces large quantities of greenhouse gases. Green hydrogen is obtained from water by electrolysis.
In this process, water is split into acid and hydrogen. The problem is that this process requires a lot of electricity. But if this electricity comes from solar, wind or hydroelectric power, electrolysis is climate-neutral. Researchers call this process power-to-gas. It is a subcategory of power-to-X technology. There is also power-to-heat or power-to-liquid.
The conversion solves the problem that wind and solar energy are difficult to store. Production peaks can be used by Europe’s hydrogen producers to compensate for bottlenecks later on – when neither the sun is shining nor the wind is blowing.
What is the European hydrogen strategy?
The EU’s hydrogen strategy is intended to make Europe a pioneer in the use of hydrogen. It is a building block of the European Green Deal. It envisages that Europe should be climate-neutral by 2050. This will only work if sectors are decarbonized in which electrification is not possible or only possible with great difficulty. Hydrogen is therefore to be used on a broad scale in these sectors. In transportation as well as in industry. Efforts are being bundled in the EU Hydrogen Initiative.
The big goal is to use green hydrogen. However, production from natural gas as a feedstock is a bridging technology. The EU’s hydrogen strategy therefore includes a whole series of targets. The production volume of green hydrogen is to increase to one million tons per year by 2024. By 2030, this figure should be ten million metric tons. Between 2030 and 2050, green hydrogen is to be developed into a system-relevant energy carrier.
In addition to precise production targets, there are also overriding economic and political goals. Subsidies for hydrogen technologies are intended to compensate for economic damage during the corona pandemic. The subsidies come from the EU Recovery Deal. In this way, the EU wants to create new jobs in the hydrogen industry. Hydrogen is also intended to increase independence from oil and gas imports.
What is the hydrogen strategy worldwide?
Globally, hydrogen is also seen as a great opportunity to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Twenty countries, which together account for half of global economic output, already have a hydrogen strategy. Thirty-one others are currently discussing policy measures in this direction. The leading countries in this area include South Korea, Japan, France and Australia.
By 2050, the World Energy Council expects hydrogen demand to reach about 270 million metric tons annually. This is equivalent to 9,000 terawatt-hours and is about the amount of energy currently produced by renewable energy worldwide. The World Energy Council expects major bilateral agreements to emerge soon. This will create supply chains and interdependencies in production, infrastructure and logistics.
What hydrogen projects are there in Europe at the moment?
The EU can only successfully implement its hydrogen strategy if the technologies are unified and standardized. The EU Hydrogen Initiative is attempting to implement corresponding regulations. This requires close networking of the nation states and their companies and research projects. For example, there is the NortH2 consortium, which consists of Gasunie, Groningen Seaports and Shell Nederland. It wants to build the largest plant for green hydrogen in Eemshaven. It is to get its energy from a mega offshore wind farm. By 2040, the plant is expected to produce 800,000 metric tons of hydrogen annually.
Denmark, meanwhile, is planning a similar facility on an artificial island. The plant is expected to be operational before 2030. The European Alliance for Clean Hydrogen lists a total of 750 hydrogen projects across Europe that are working on infrastructure and researching the technology in a variety of areas.
Which cooperations has Europe entered?
Despite all the subsidies, Europe also relies on energy imports for hydrogen. The EU Hydrogen Initiative aims to secure the supply. Corresponding cooperations in this area are already underway. The best-known hydrogen project is the cooperation between Morocco and Germany. The world’s largest solar plant is located near the city of Ouarzazate on the edge of the Atlas Mountains. The Noor power plant. It supplies electricity to 1.3 million people. And to the first industrial plant for green hydrogen. The demonstration plant currently produces four tons of hydrogen per day.
In addition to a country’s political stability, the availability of water is also important for the production of green hydrogen. In the industry, seawater desalination has become widely accepted. For this reason, a partnership with Australia was formed as part of Germany’s hydrogen strategy. While a supply chain seems too complex, research or industrial cooperation could be interesting. The EU Hydrogen Initiative is also working on this.
News about the European hydrogen strategy of the EU
The hydrogen strategy is enormously important for meeting the EU’s climate targets. However, this requires a structural change within the industry. Especially in highly energy-intensive industries. An expansion of renewable energies is inevitable, as is global cooperation. Table Media’s editorial team will report on all developments.