A lot of research has been carried out on the economically efficient use of hydrogen for decades. However, hydrogen has not been able to assert itself as an energy source to this day. The urgent need for decarbonisation has led to a re-evaluation of hydrogen as an energy source and the production processes required for this.
EU: Expansion is a challenge
The European Union aims to raise the production and importation of green hydrogen to 10 million tonnes per year by 2030. Producing this quantity requires electrolysis capacities in the EU to be expanded from the current 0.2 gigawatts (GW) per year to between 65 and 80 GW. This will take around 500 terrawatt hours of electricity. Is this feasible? According to the International Energy Agency (IEA), around 1,100 terrawatt hours of electricity were produced with renewable energies throughout the EU in 2021. Renewable energies therefore need to be massively expanded for hydrogen production. Subsidies are intended to help with this
EUR 300 billion in the REPowerEU Plan
In the EU, the ambitious targets are to be promoted by the REPowerEU Plan. The plan was presented on 18 May 2022 – as the EU's response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The REPowerEU Plan envisages an investment volume of EUR 300 billion and consists largely of uncalled coronavirus loans. These are now being repurposed to support the "net-zero industry" (wind power, solar cells, heat pumps, batteries, electric cars and hydrogen). The aim of the REPowerEU Plan is to safeguard the EU's energy supply in three dimensions in the long term:
1. Cutting energy consumption
2. Producing clean energy
3. Diversifying the European energy supply
Hydrogen has a key role to play here, diversifying energy supply and decreasing dependence on fossil fuels, especially natural gas imports.
Reliance on imports
The EU wants to import a total of 10 million tonnes of hydrogen by 2030. All countries that can generate large quantities of renewable electricity on the one hand and have water on the other could be of relevance here, as hydrogen is produced by electrolysis using electricity and water. Discussions are underway with countries such as Mauritania, Angola, Namibia, Chile, Iceland and Norway – some of which are very advanced – regarding a long-term cooperation for hydrogen. The first framework agreements have already been concluded IEA (2022), Global Hydrogen Review 2022, Licence: CC BY 4.0. However, less than 1 million tonnes of H2 imports from these countries are planned so far. It remains to be seen whether there will be enough countries that will produce enough hydrogen by 2030 and also want to export it to the EU.