Page 4 - AfrElec Week 27

AfrElec COMMENTARY AfrElec

Brussels announces new

hydrogen strategy

The EU is looking to take a leading role in the hydrogen revolution

GLOBAL THE European Commission has unveiled its industrial processes such as steel or chemical
long-awaited hydrogen strategy, which it says manufacturing. Europe is well-placed to reap
WHAT: will “bridge the gap” in decarbonisation efforts rewards from a global hydrogen revolution,
The European over the coming decades. given its edge in clean hydrogen technologies.
Commission has The strategy accepts that in the short to The EC projects that cumulative investments
launched a new strategy medium term, some fossil fuel-based hydrogen in renewable hydrogen could reach EUR180-
for developing hydrogen production will be needed to lower emissions. 470bn ($203-531bn) by 2050, with a further
as an energy source over But its main priority is the large-scale deploy- EUR3-18bn being invested in low-carbon fossil
the next three decades ment of carbon-free green hydrogen, produced fuel-based hydrogen.
using renewable power. This said, the Commission warned that
WHY: Hydrogen is being looked at carefully by a “driving hydrogen development past the tipping
The strategy heavily growing number of governments and corpora- point needs critical mass in investment, an ena-
favours green hydrogen, tions worldwide. Japan has already said that it bling regulatory framework, new lead markets,
but says fossil fuel- aims to be a leader in hydrogen technology in a sustained research and innovation into break-
derived blue hydrogen bid to reduce its reliance on imported fossil fuels, through technologies.”
also has a role to play in to decarbonise its economy and to drive innova- Large-scale infrastructure is also needed, that
the short to medium term tion in energy technology. only the EU, by working as one, can achieve.
In Europe, industry already uses some 8mn
WHAT NEXT: tonnes of hydrogen per year, but almost all of it Deployment plan
The response from the is so-called grey hydrogen, produced from fossil The EU’s priority is developing green hydrogen,
energy industry has been fuels, using methods such as gas reforming and which involves using renewable energy to sepa-
mixed, with some calling coal gasification. Such techniques are unabated, rate hydrogen from water in a process known as
for a more balanced meaning they produce some 70-100mn tonnes electrolysis. It can be deployed in sectors which
approach to different of CO2 annually. will struggle to decarbonise in any other way in
hydrogen technologies A potential hydrogen energy revolution has the coming decades.
been discussed for decades without significant Between 2020 and 2024, the plan is to estab-
progress. But according to the EC, the rapid lish at least 6GW of hydrogen electrolyser capac-
decline in renewable energy costs in recent years, ity, capable of producing 1mn tonnes per year
technological development and the urgent need (tpy) of the fuel. The EC will seek to create a reg-
to combat emissions mean the time is now ripe ulatory environment that supports the market’s
for the fuel’s deployment on a much larger scale. development, providing incentives to both sup-
Currently, hydrogen accounts for less than 2% pliers and consumers.
of Europe’s energy mix, but the EU predicts that Under the second phase, at least 40GW of
it could amount to as much as 13-14% by 2050. renewable hydrogen electrolysers would be
Serious interest in hydrogen is reaching a installed between 2025 and 2030 to produce up
“tipping point”, according to the EC, with new to 10mn tpy of hydrogen.
gigawatt-scale investments being announced on Still, the EC recognises that blue hydro-
a weekly basis. gen also has a role to play in the transition in
“Renewable electricity is expected to decar- the short and medium term. Blue hydrogen is
bonise a large share of the EU energy con- derived from fossil fuels but uses carbon capture
sumption by 2050, but not all of it,” the EC said. and storage (CCS) technology to limit emissions.
“Hydrogen has a strong potential to bridge some This technology is yet to be tested on a commer-
of this gap, as a vector for renewable energy stor- cial scale.
age, alongside batteries, and transport, ensuring Some fossil fuel-based hydrogen is necessary
back-up for seasonal variations and connecting as a stop-gap, according to the EC, while costs
production locations to more distant demand for green hydrogen come down. As it currently
centres.” stands, green and blue hydrogen would cost
Hydrogen can be particularly useful in EUR2.5-5.5/kg and EUR2/kg respectively for
replacing fossil fuels in some carbon-intensive the EU, the International Energy Agency (IEA)

P4 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 27 09•July•2020