The Hydrogen Boost in Europe
Although the world is turned upside down from the pandemic, the fight against climate change and the protection of the environment has no truce. The transition to a cleaner energy future must continue, and innovation, technology and "money" are an essential part if we want a solid advance.
There are signed agreements that must be fulfilled worldwide (Paris Agreement, 2015), and others, for the EU countries with a roadmap stipulated in the European Green Pact to achieve the environmental objectives set for 2030 and 2050.
Within that "Green energy strategy", the hydrogen, has important characteristics that give it properties to be a renewable element; the proportion of safe energy, it is economically competitive and free of CO2 emissions (Carbon dioxide).
According to experts, Renewable hydrogen will be an essential element on the path to the energy goals for 2050However, it requires many aspects that have yet to be developed and that need a strong boost.
To get progress, you need a lot of money and this is where the news of the week comes … The new European Green Hydrogen Acceleration Center (Enter from EGHAC) promises to accelerate gigawatt-scale renewable hydrogen production to carry out large-scale industrial projects, in all of Europe, with an investment of 100,000 million euros by 2025.
The European Center for the Acceleration of Green Hydrogen is managed by EIT InnoEnergy (Accelerating Sustainable Energy Innovations) and supported by Breakthrough Energy. It aims to support the development of renewable hydrogen capacities in the EU, which could create 500,000 direct and indirect jobs throughout the 'green hydrogen' value chain.
renewable hydrogen is well positioned to become a centerpiece of the EU's climate neutral economy
As a note and curiosity, Breakthrough Energy is a network of entities founded by Bill Gates and leading technology and business leaders to accelerate the transition to a clean energy future. Featured issue that behind the large investments - in part - to change the EU energy landscape, there is US capital, but this would be another debate.
Plus Renewable hydrogen In the EU, it has many implications: drastically reducing CO2 carbon dioxide emissions (See global climate change map), more employment, new technologies, economic improvement and, very importantly, achieving strategic autonomy by reducing dependence on more than 320,000 million euros of fossil fuel imports every year.
But in reality, all that glitters is not gold. The The vast majority of hydrogen currently produced (It is estimated at 95%) comes from non-renewable sources, basically from coal and natural gas (They call it «gray hydrogen«).
The investment to be made is to move towards a production model based on renewable energy generated by the so-called "green hydrogen"And"blue hydrogen”. Introducing it in new applications or in sectors that are practically testimonial such as heavy industry, energy and transport.
And what will be the objectives of this enormous economic investment? …
The Most urgent short-term priority, according to EGHAC, is closing the price gap between carbon-emitting technologies and 'green hydrogen', leading to a substantial displacement of hydrocarbons in energy-intensive industrial applications (ie steel, cement, chemicals), heavy transport (ocean and heavy duty), and fertilizers.
To transition to a fully renewable energy system, we need solutions that complement the intermittency of renewable sources. A strong and environmentally friendly option today is hydrogen. Without detracting, of course, other already established options with upward trends; wind, solar or take advantage of sea water with marine energy, which is having an important boom.
The changes required to evolve towards a society with clean energies always need great efforts and more, when we talk about new technologies that, according to experts, one of the keys to coherent deployment, is the timely legislation that frames this unstoppable trend in a regulation solid.
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