EU hopes hydrogen is more than just hype
Brussels wants to ramp up production of clean hydrogen to help meet climate goals
Brussels is trying to find ways to fill in the missing piece in its long journey towards climate neutrality: the mass production of hydrogen. But it is not without controversy.
The European Commission will unveil on Wednesday afternoon the latest leg of its “hydrogen strategy” and “hydrogen alliance” — a two-pronged attempt to bring together private business and EU money to massively scale up Europe’s hydrogen supply.
For Brussels, and a number of influential member states like Germany, hydrogen will play a pivotal part in the push to decarbonise European industry and help the EU hit its goal to become carbon-neutral by 2050. But as the Brussels Briefing has written before, powering up hydrogen is not without its perils.
Compared to other renewables, hydrogen production is relatively expensive and makes up only a tiny proportion of the EU’s energy mix. And, as the commission itself admits, a vast proportion of current hydrogen production is done through “dirty” methods that use electricity powered by fossil fuels.
Brussels wants to change all that with ambitious targets on the production of “green hydrogen” — code for using methods that don’t require the use of fossil fuels. According to a leaked version of the commission’s plan, seen by the Brussels Briefing, the commission wants the EU to produce 1m tonnes of clean hydrogen by 2024, ramping up to 10m tonnes by 2030.
Green groups will be combing through the strategy to make sure it is not used as a cover to pump more investment into the EU’s controversial natural gas infrastructure. Gas is seen as a “transition” fuel on the route to full decarbonisation and its infrastructure can also be retrofitted for the production of hydrogen. But natural gas critics say Europe’s governments are better off spending their resources on fully renewable sources instead.
Kadri Simson, EU energy commissioner, told the FT that Brussels was determined to boost only “renewable hydrogen, in line with our Green Deal strategy and climate-neutrality commitment.”
“We need to bring down the cost of clean hydrogen quickly, by increasing the electrolyser capacity and the share of renewable energy in Europe.”
The push will be welcomed by Europe’s industrial giants — in sectors like steel and chemicals — where hydrogen is still the only real “green” alternative to fossil fuel power. But the hydrogen hype is also based in part on hopes that the fuel can also compete in the lucrative clean cars market, where battery-powered technology has raced ahead of the rest.