The European Commission is aiming to issue a list of approved certification companies for green hydrogen produced in Europe in the second quarter of this year, a move seen by the industry as a key step to boost investment in the sector.

“We have received a number of applications for voluntary schemes for renewable hydrogen and e-fuels, and we have conducted a first assessment,” said Bernd Kuepker of the Commission’s Directorate-General for Energy (DG ENER).

Speaking at a webinar organised by the eFuel Alliance on 15 April, he said DG ENER is hoping to finalise the technical assessment and launch the process of recognition of the schemes by the end of Q2 2024.

Voluntary schemes and national certification schemes of EU countries help to ensure that biofuels, bioliquids and biomass fuels as well as renewable hydrogen and its derivatives and recycled carbon fuels are sustainably produced.

Although the Commission’s recognition process is not legally binding, it is expected to provide more certainty to the industry and help pave the way for EU member states to recognise these schemes, he said.

“We are not against the delegated acts, but we think they are too restrictive and too complex for an early market phase” Griefahn, eFuel Alliance

A lack of certifiers approved by the Commission has so far hindered investments in green hydrogen in Europe, said Monika Griefahn, chair of the eFuel Alliance.

To count as a renewable fuel of non-biological origin (RFNBO), hydrogen must comply with rules set out in the Renewable Energy Directive for the sourcing of renewable electricity and achieve 70% emissions savings, among other things.

Moreover, under the Commission’s delegated act on RFNBOs, the hydrogen must meet the so-called ‘additionality requirement’ under which hydrogen producers should conclude power-purchase agreements (PPAs) with new and unsupported renewable electricity generation capacity.

Temporal and geographical correlation criteria have also been introduced to ensure that hydrogen is produced when and where renewable electricity is available and to avoid incentivising more fossil electricity production.

Compliance with EU rules must apply throughout the entire value chain of hydrogen production, from electricity input through processing, trading and output, Timo Winkelmann, of certification body REDcert, said.

Each company involved in the process needs to be certified and compliant with the delegated acts.

This involves a transfer of data between each link in the chain, he said. “If one link is not compliant, no RFNBO can arise through value chain,” he added.

REDcert is among the certification schemes hoping to be accredited by the Commission in the coming months.

Complexity

The Commission also published a greenhouse gas (GHG) methodology that includes a lifecycle approach to determine the GHG emission intensity of RFNBOs and which distinguishes between electricity that counts as fully renewable and electricity that counts as partially renewable.

The documents, however, have raised criticism for their complexity, amid fears this might discourage development of green hydrogen capacity in Europe.

“We are not against the delegated acts, but we think they are too restrictive and too complex for an early market phase. For that reason, we call for an early revision after the European general elections and for an exemption [from the rules for the first electrolyser projects],” Griefahn said.

“This would benefit first movers and initiate an immediate market ramp-up, which we need urgently” she added.

The EU is targeting 10mt/yr of green hydrogen production by 2030, with a further 10mt/yr expected to be imported from outside the bloc.

“It is good to have those rules, but we see that a lot of projects are delayed or not taking place as they cannot finance the risk and misunderstandings” stemming from the delegated acts, said Tobias Block, chief strategy officer at the eFuel Alliance.

“It is crucial that first movers benefit from the regulation,” he said, adding that construction of the first electrolysers should “start as early as possible”.

The first 5GW of capacity should be excluded from the rules, which would remove considerable uncertainty for investors, he said.

In March, the Commission also published a Q&A document that addresses key questions related to carbon pricing, intermediaries, GHG calculations and electricity subsidies raised by the delegated acts.

The document clarifies that electricity used for other needs, such as lighting, safety and system balance—and not for directly hydrogen production—does not need to be renewable, but the CO₂ content of this energy source should be taken into account to calculate the GHG savings achieved by the RFNBO.

It also states that subsidy rules do not apply to directly connected installations and that these are excluded from PPA requirements.

Moreover, it says GHG emisions related to transport, distribution and storage of RFNBOs, including ammonia transported by ship, should be factored in.

Hydrogen producers may also produce renewable hydrogen as well as other types of hydrogen in the same installation provided that the production of the different types of hydrogen is “well documented”.

Furthermore, calculating the emission intensity of the RFNBO and the CO₂ avoided should be based on an “effective carbon pricing system”: this includes the EU ETS, the Swiss ETS and the UK ETS, according to an annex to the Q&A document.

This would exclude countries that are set to become key green hydrogen producers, such as Chile, the webinar noted.

Other systems may require to be assessed and included in the list, Kuepker said.

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Author: Beatrice Bedeschi