Cabinet ministers of three EU countries provided more detail on their national hydrogen strategies, with each tailored to their nation’s unique geographical and economic situations, at the World Hydrogen Summit today.

Portugal has held the rotating presidency of the EU Council since January and is using the influential position to concentrate on energy, including hyrdogen. “The Portuguese presidency has made it a priority to promote the EU as a leader in climate action,” said Joao Pedro Matos Fernandes, Portuguese minister of environment & climate action.

“Encouraging the debate around hydrogen and support mechanisms to create a real market for hydrogen is one of the priorities of the Portuguese presidency” Fernandes, Portugal

“Encouraging the debate around hydrogen and support mechanisms to create a real market for hydrogen is one of the priorities of the Portuguese presidency. In the field of energy, hydrogen, particularly green hydrogen, is a crucial facilitator to achieve the objectives of the [EU] Green Deal, contributing to the pursuit of decarbonisation objectives and to achieving climate neutrality in Europe.”

He said electrification is “not the panacea” and renewable gases such as green hydrogen and biomethane can play an “important role” in decarbonising hard-to-abate sectors.

“It is essential to adopt measures to promote its competitiveness, especially of green hydrogen, to invest in research and innovation, to create the market infrastructure and measures of certification of origin,” he said.

Several mechanisms are being implemented at national level: regulating of the injection of renewable gases into the national natural gas network; establishing a system for warranties of origin for renewable gases; and ensuring financial resources to support energy production through the production of renewable gases.

“By setting the binding target, by 2030, to incorporate renewable gases into the natural gas network, we believe that a country from south southern Europe, like Portugal, can have an active role and push forward the broad use of green hydrogen, becoming a key element in accomplishing Europe's decarbonisation goals,” he added.

“The abundance of wind energy will also allow us to produce sustainable fuels for shipping, aviation and other sectors that are not suitable for direct electrification” Joergensen, Denmark

Fernandes said that the solar endowment of Portugal provides it with the potential to supply the more industrialised northern European countries with green hydrogen. “Portugal can go beyond its initial goals and commit to more ambitious production targets that fit European demand,” he said.

He added that “close cooperation and collective commitment” in the form of support mechanisms would be needed to correct “market failure” associated with cross-border transactions.

Wind abundance

Denmark is among the leading European countries in terms of decarbonising power generation. It has pledged to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by 70pc, compared with 1990, by 2030 and to achieve climate neutrality by 2050. “We are already well on the way to phase out coal completely, and wind energy alone makes up almost 50pc of our electricity supply,” said Dan Joergensen, Danish minister of climate, energy & utilities.

He reminded delegates that the European bloc had a global responsibility. “If we fail to act on climate change, to phase out fossil fuels with the urgency required, the costs will be tremendous. They will be tremendous to everyone, but especially to the world's most vulnerable populations.

“In order to phase out fossil fuels completely, we need to take renewables to a whole new level,” he said, noting that Denmark has committed to building a 10GW wind island in the North Sea. The electricity will be used in the national grid but also to power electrolysers to create green hydrogen.

“The abundance of wind energy will also allow us to produce sustainable fuels for shipping, aviation and other sectors that are not suitable for direct electrification. This is done, of course, via electrolysis. So you take first the wind power and make it into hydrogen and then make the hydrogen into other liquid fuels,” Joergensen added.

All options open

Central and Eastern European countries typically have power generation systems that are reliant on coal and less so on renewable power—and more urgently need to consider the cost of the transition than the wealthier northern states.

Poland acknowledges the importance of hydrogen. “The discussion on hydrogen is indeed important not only for us in Central and Eastern Europe, but for the whole world,” said Adam Guibourge-Czetwertynski, Polish undersecretary of state, ministry of climate and environment.

“There are also many other low emission sources that are available to produce hydrogen, and we should not preclude any technology” Guibourge-Czetwertynski, Poland

“I believe that hydrogen technologies can support the transformation of our energy market... We see that hydrogen is attracting growing attention and its importance for the future of the energy system is already widely recognised.”

He added that he recognises hydrogen can also be used by industry, for heating homes, for storing energy and as a substitute for conventional fuels in long-distance transport. “Hydrogen is really a solution to decarbonise industrial processes and economic sectors, and it will support reaching our climate-neutrality target.”

However, he said that “in the face of creating a hydrogen economy, the most important thing at the beginning will be the cost of production… we need to provide energy from renewable sources at a price that ensures cost-competitiveness in relation to production from fossil fuels.”

Guibourge-Czetwertynski put less emphasis on the production of green hydrogen and suggested the key metric should be overall CO₂ emissions—leaving the door open for production of blue hydrogen based on natural gas and other methods such as nuclear. “There are also many other low emission sources that are available to produce hydrogen, and we should not preclude any technology… we should really use all possible low-emission sources.”

He also emphasised the importance of developing appropriate infrastructure and creating value chains to support the supply side in the early stages of development, before a “real market for hydrogen” is established. “It is crucial that we introduce appropriate incentives both on the supply and demand side for renewable hydrogen.”

He noted that Poland’s “ambitious” 2040 energy plan was approved by the Council of Ministers and is based on three pillars: a just transition for all citizens; a zero-carbon system with today’s capacity; and good air quality.

His government is working on the Polish Hydrogen Strategy 2030, which is at the public consultation stage. It contains the goal of constructing 2GW of electrolyser capacity by 2030, among other measures. “I strongly believe that hydrogen technologies can really be a very important tool in solving the challenges.”

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Author: Alastair O’Dell<BR>Senior Editor