Western Europe holds a nearly 50% market share of active hydrogen projects, more than double its closest competitor (Asia, with 20%, according to the GEI database). For decades, Western Europe has been the leader in establishing new directives and initiatives to promote cleaner transportation fuels and power generation. Over the past few years, the region has made significant strides to establish and expand the use of hydrogen within EU borders a result of the Paris Agreement to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions to limit global warming to 1.5–2°C this century. 

To combat GHG emissions in the EU, the region will continue to invest heavily in new hydrogen production capacity and infrastructure. This hydrogen supply/value chain will help decarbonise the industrial, mobility and energy sectors to reach net-zero goals by 2050.

According to the European Commission’s hydrogen strategy and REPowerEU, the EU proposal to end reliance on Russian fossil fuels, the bloc will conduct a phased approach to implementing hydrogen infrastructure and production to 2050:

• Phase 1 (2020–24): The first phase calls for the installation of at least 6GW of renewable hydrogen electrolysers in the EU, with up to 1mt/yr of green hydrogen In April 2023, the EU proposed a pilot auction programme to subsidise green hydrogen projects in the region. The proposal will make available €800m ($876m) for green hydrogen project developers to help subsidise the cost of building new hydrogen production capacity in the region. Hydrogen project developers could receive up to a €4/kg subsidy for up to ten years. However, there are several caveats to qualify:
  • The project must have at least 5MW of electrolyser capacity.
  • Project developers cannot bid for more than 33% of the €800m budget.
  • The project must reach 100% capacity within 3.5 years of a winning bid.
  • The project must have pre-contractional arrangements in place, such as a memorandum of understanding or letter of intent.

The programme, which comes under the EU Innovation Fund, is the initial step to the establishment of the EU’s Hydrogen Bank in 2024. According to the Commission, the €3b European Hydrogen Bank will be used to “unlock private investments in hydrogen value chains, both domestically and in other countries, by connecting renewable energy supply to EU demand and addressing initial investment challenges”.

• Phase 2 (2025–30): Due to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the Commission has revised the EU’s goal for both domestically produced green hydrogenand green hydrogenimports for the second phase. According to the most recent initiative, the EU plans to install up to 40GW of renewable hydrogenelectrolyser capacity to produce 10mt/yr of green hydrogen. The region also intends to import up to 10mt/yr of green hydrogenwithin this phase. However, the additional infrastructure and production capacity comes with a large price tag. Total investments in domestic hydrogeninfrastructure could top more than €470b by 2030, according to the Commission, with an additional €200–300b in costs to build out renewable energy capacity. These costs are in addition to approximately €500b needed to build value chains outside of the EU to secure additional green hydrogen
• Phase 3 (2030–50): In this last phase, renewable hydrogen production reaches maturity and can be deployed at a wide scale throughout the EU. This phase envisions the use of green hydrogen in nearly all sectors, including aviation, shipping, and industrial and building applications. For example, the EU’s FuelEU Maritime law calls for the shipping sector to increase the proportion of green efuels used in the sector to 2% by 2034 and to cut GHG emissions by 2% below 2020 levels by 2025, 14.5% by 2035 and 8% by 2050—this law applies to vessels above 5,000t in weight.

To help unlock both public and private investments, the EU has also initiated the Important Projects of Common European Interest (IPCEI) scheme. This cross-border initiative will help provide funding to build a hydrogen value chain in the bloc. Two IPCEIs—Hy2Tech and Hy2Use—had been awarded funding at the time of publication. These will provide more than €10.5b in funding to more than 75 projects in 16 EU nations. Hy2Tech and Hy2Use are also expected to secure nearly €16b in private investments.

Lastly, an intricate supply network is needed in the region. To supply demand centres with hydrogen, the European Hydrogen Backbone (EHB) initiative has been implemented. This capital-intensive programme includes more than 30 energy infrastructure operators across northern, central and southern Europe. By 2040, the EHB is expected to cover approximately 53,000km at a cost of €80–143b. This includes onshore and offshore pipelines to deliver hydrogen to various demand centres in the EU for domestic/regional use.

At the time of publication, the GEI database was tracking nearly 690 active hydrogen projects in Western Europe. At 24%, the UK holds the largest market share in the region, followed by Germany, with 16%. A breakdown of active hydrogen project market share in Western Europe is detailed in Fig.1. The following are notable active projects and initiatives being developed in Western Europe. 

France

France unveiled its hydrogen strategy in 2020. This called for 6.5GW of electrolysis capacity to be installed by 2030. However, in 2022, the French government announced plans to unveil a new hydrogen strategy that will emphasise the use of green hydrogen to decarbonise hard-to-abate industries such as aviation, cement and steel production (e.g., GravitHy’s €2.2b, 2mt/yr green steel plant and the Power4Steel programme), long-haul transport (several companies are investing in new green hydrogen fuelling centres) and fertiliser production.

France’s new hydrogen strategy is expected to be announced mid-2024. The new strategy is in response to numerous new green hydrogen projects that have been announced since the country unveiled its first hydrogen strategy in 2020. France’s first hydrogen plan was announced in 2018. The following notable projects (not an exhaustive list) have been announced to help France meet its 2050 net-zero ambitions:

• The Horizeo 1GW solar farm: The project developers are exploring the installation of electrolysers to produce green hydrogen.
• Hydrogen Pilot Storage for large Ecosystem Replication: This is the first EU-funded project to test storing hydrogen in underground salt caverns.
• TotalEnergies’ Masshylia project, which will supply green hydrogen to the operator’s La Mede refinery to help decarbonise biofuels production.
• Grande Region Hydrogen: This cross-border hydrogen ecosystem consists of several projects to provide green hydrogen to decarbonise various industrial sectors of the French and German economies. These projects include the H2V Fos and Thionville projects, GazelEnergie’s Emil’Hy project, the HyPower Moselle/Saar projects and the CarlHYng project, as well as the 100km MosaHYc hydrogen pipeline, which will provide up to 50,000t/yr of hydrogen to cities in France and Germany by 2030.
• Belgium-headquartered DOMO Chemicals and German firm Hynamics’ 11,000t/yr low-carbon hydrogen plant, which will provide feedstock for DOMO’s plastics production process at Belle-Etoile.
• The Occitanie H2 Corridor: This €110m initiative includes the construction of green hydrogen plants (infrastructure provider Lhyfe’s 2t/d plant in Bessieres and French joint venture Hyd’Occ’s 3,000t/yr plant in Port-la-Nouvelle) and hydrogen fuelling stations to help decarbonise long-haul and passenger vehicles in the Occitanie region of southern France.
• The Grand Est green hydrogen fuel chain project.
• Industrial gases company Air Liquide’s Normand’Hy large-scale renewable hydrogen production project. The 200MW electrolyser for this development will provide green hydrogen to TotalEnergie’s Normandy refinery. Air Liquide is also working with the Durance, Luberon and Verdon urban area and France’s Engie on the €300m HyGreen Provence project. The facility will produce more than 10,400t/yr of green hydrogen, which will be stored in underground salt caverns and used to decarbonise the region’s industrial and transportation sectors.
• Aix-Marseille-Provence metropolis hydrogen initiative: French hydrogen firm H2V and the Port of Marseille Fos are developing six 100MW green hydrogen production units at a total cost of €750m. The green hydrogen will be used to decarbonise industrial and transportation sectors in the region.
• Germany’s Hy2Gen’s Hynovera project: The €460m project will produce green hydrogen and renewable fuels.
• The Reuze project: Engie and efuels provider Infinium are investing €500m to produce fuels from captured CO₂ and green hydrogen.

Germany

Like the rest of the EU, Germany has vowed to be carbon-neutral by 2050, and the nation’s hydrogen strategy will help make this ambitious goal a reality.

Germany’s 2020 National Hydrogen Strategy focused on increasing renewable power generation to provide feedstock for green hydrogen production, as well as the massive scale-up of domestic green hydrogen production capacity. The green hydrogen will be used to decarbonise the industrial and mobility sectors of the German economy. Nearly €12b has been provided by various federal organisations and programmes to invest in hydrogen technology research, to speed up the adoption of hydrogen technologies into various industrial markets to expedite the decarbonisation of those industries, and to establish more partnerships with international markets. For example, the Package for the Future programme provides €7b to expedite hydrogen technology adoption in the German market and another €2b to foster international partnerships/green hydrogen imports.

However, in July 2023, Germany unveiled an updated National Hydrogen strategy. This raised the country’s expected demand to 95–130TWh by 2030 from 90–110TWh previously. The report also called for the doubling of domestic green hydrogen production to 10GW by 2030, as well a 50–70% reliance on imported green hydrogen within the same timeframe.

Numerous hydrogen projects have been announced in Germany, focusing on a wide array of producing hydrogen and/or utilising it to decarbonise various industrial sectors of the German economy. These projects include billions of euros to build new hydrogen production capacity, more than €5b to establish Wilhelmshaven as a hydrogen hub, over €3.5b to use green hydrogen to decarbonise German steel production, building green ammonia import infrastructure, building and converting existing pipeline infrastructure to transport hydrogen to domestic demand centres, the development of numerous hydrogen fuelling stations to help decarbonise the German mobility sector, utilising hydrogen for mass-transit and marine vessels, the creation of hydrogen storage facilities in underground salt caverns, utilising green hydrogen to help power German refineries and petrochemical facilities, and converting and/or building new gas-fired combined heat-and-power plants to run on hydrogen.

To encourage additional hydrogen concepts, the Federal Ministry of Digital and Transport launched Hydrogen Regions in Germany (HyLand) competition in 2019. The programme’s concept is to provide advice, funding and other technical/project assistance to regional hydrogen developments, with the goal of helping Germany reach its net-zero targets by 2050. The first two rounds of the programme—which were separated into three different categories (HyStarter, HyExperts, HyPerformer) based on the stage in the project’s/concept’s development—awarded 55 regions (25 in HyLand 1 and 30 in HyLand 2) with project funding/assistance. These projects are imperative to creating an integrated hydrogen ecosystem within Germany.

The Netherlands

The Dutch hydrogen strategy aims to start up 500MW of green hydrogen production capacity by 2025, increasing to 4GW by 2030 and doubling to 8GW by 2033. To help boost domestic clean energy production, the country’s government has allocated €9b—part of the Netherlands’ €35b energy transition fund—to help expedite green hydrogen capacity investments. Approximately €1b will be made available in 2024 to large-scale green electrolyser projects. Nearly €4b will be allocated in 2025, with the rest of the funds to be released in subsequent years.

At the time of publication, the GEI database was tracking more than 70 active hydrogen projects in the Netherlands. These initiatives include the development of the world’s largest offshore-to-hydrogen project—the North of the Wadden Islands project, which will provide renewable energy and feedstock to produce green hydrogen. The hydrogen will be connected partly to Dutch gas transmission company Gasunie’s hydrogen network project, called Hydrogen Energy Applications in Valley Environments for Northern Netherlands, which links five industrial clusters to each other and to neighbouring hydrogen areas and hydrogen storage facilities. Also offshore, a consortium of Netherlands-based Switch2 Offshore, floating production vessel provider BW Offshore Norway, subsea specialist MARIN, Delft University of Technology and Dutch pipe manufacturer Strohm is developing the OFFSET project. This will use an FPSO vessel to produce green ammonia.

50% – Western Europe’s share of active hydrogen projects

The Port of Rotterdam will also see a green hydrogen transformation. Several companies and consortiums have announced plans to develop green hydrogen infrastructure at the port and surrounding areas. For example, the Port of Rotterdam has cleared available land for the development of both green hydrogen production plants and green ammonia import facilities. The additional green hydrogen will help decarbonise different industrial sectors in the country, including being used in BP’s and Finnish firm Neste’s refineries.

The Port of Rotterdam is one of three potential hydrogen valleys being developed in the Netherlands. The other two include North Netherlands and North Holland initiatives. These three hydrogen valleys include multiple capital-intensive projects to help the Netherlands reach its net-zero ambitions. 

Spain

Adopted in 2020, Spain’s initial hydrogen roadmap targeted the installation of 300–600MW of electrolyser capacity by 2025, increasing to 4GW by 2030. However, a new renewable energy/green hydrogen draft was unveiled in mid-2023 that significantly increases domestic renewable energy and green hydrogen production. Spain’s new goals target 11GW of electrolyser capacity and approximately 160GW of renewable energy capacity in operation by 2030. If achieved, renewable energy capacity will comprise more than 80% of the energy mix.

The country has already reached the initial goal set out in the 2020 draft, with numerous additional green hydrogen production facility projects under development. These additional projects will help Spain reach its ambitious 2030 targets:

• More than €3b to develop the Andalusian Hydrogen Valley to provide green hydrogen for low-carbon fuel production (e.g., Spanish oil and gas company Cepsa’s advanced aviation biofuels programme) and for use in shipping and long-haul transport.
• The development of various hydrogen valleys and corridors (e.g., the €3b Basque Hydrogen Corridor, the Hydrogen Valley of Catalonia and the Hydrogen Valley of Murcia).
• BP’s €2b green hydrogen initiative to replace natural gas used at its Castellonrefinery with green
• New pilot projects to increase green hydrogen use in steelmaking, as well as capital-intensive projects to convert green hydrogen into green ammonia for domestic use and export (e.g., power utility Iberdrola’s $800m green ammonia complex project, Cepsa and fertiliser manufacturer Yara Clean Ammonia’s Algeciras and Rotterdam green ammonia maritime highway project).
• The more than €4b, 2GW Spanish Hydrogen Network, a 33-company consortium dedicated to building a hydrogen ecosystem in Spain.
• Numerous additional green hydrogen/ammonia and e-methanol production plants, such as Spanish gas utility Naturgy and Spanish gas network operator Enagas’ $520m green hydrogen plant in La Robla, e-methanol startup CETAER’s 37,000t/yr e-methanol plant in Almeria, the Valle H2V Navarra green hydrogen plant in Rocaforte, renewable fuels company Raven SR’s waste-to-hydrogen plant in Aragon, UK-based Hive Energy’s 1,200t/d green hydrogen/ammonia production plant and the 1mt/yr green methanol plant at the Port of Huelva being developed by C2X, majority owned by Denmark’s AP Moller Holding, among others.

UK

In December 2022, the UK’s Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy announced an updated hydrogen strategy. The country’s new roadmap calls for hydrogen production of up to 10GW by 2030, with half being from electrolytic generation, doubling the previous target announced in mid-2021. The UK government also plans to help fund hydrogen projects through various subsidy programmes, such as the Hydrogen Production Business Model and the Net-Zero Hydrogen Fund. These programmes have been partly responsible for the significant increase in the country’s active hydrogen projects—the UK’s updated hydrogen strategy details approximately 20GW in its hydrogen projects pipeline through 2037.

According to the GEI database, the UK is the market leader in active hydrogen projects in Western Europe, holding a 22% market share. These projects vary across the hydrogen value chain, including production capacity, pipelines, infrastructure, fuelling, and the industrial and residential sectors. Several of the more notable projects are listed below:

• Zero Carbon Humber: Part of the UK’s East Cluster, this capital-intensive project’s focus is to decarbonise the Humber region, which is the most carbon-intensive industrial region in the UK. The initiative consists of several different projects, including H2H Saltend and H2NorthEast, decarbonising the UK steel industry, and utilising hydrogen for power generation and green hydrogen/ammonia for export, among other projects (see Fig.2).
• Net-Zero Teesside: Also part of the UK East Coast Cluster, the initiative is a collection of different projects to decarbonise the Teesside region through hydrogen production and carbon-capture projects. These include BP’s plan to produce more than 1GW of hydrogen via the H2Teesside and Hygreen Teesside projects, the NZT Power project’s use of hydrogen to provide low-carbon hydrogen for electricity generation, and other various hydrogen projects to decarbonise industrial operations.
• HyNet Northwest: This initiative is a collection of hydrogen production, transportation and storage projects to decarbonise North Wales. The low-carbon hydrogen will enable customers to switch from fossil fuel-fired power generation to lower-carbon forms of energy (e.g., hydrogen). These projects will be complemented by carbon-capture solutions to help further reduce carbon emissions.

Several other hydrogen projects will be used to decarbonise different sectors of the UK’s economy. These include utilising low-carbon/green hydrogen for residential use in places such as Fife in Scotland; new green hydrogen fuelling centres for buses, long-haul and passenger vehicles; replacing natural gas with green or blue hydrogen in industrial operations; new/converted infrastructure for hydrogen/ammonia exports; and several pipeline projects to provide hydrogen to various demand regions of the UK.

Other Western Europe

In Q1 2022, Denmark pledged to install upwards of 6GW of electrolyser capacity to help the nation wean itself off fossil fuels. The additional green hydrogen will be used in several industries, including in power-to-x plants, green fuels production, green ammonia production and for power/fuels in the marine industry and mobility sector.

Belgium has announced plans to become a European hydrogen import hub. The country’s goal is to import several hundred tons per year of green hydrogen that will be used to decarbonise sectors of Belgium’s economy, with the surplus exported to neighbouring countries, primarily Germany. Belgium also plans to increase green and blue hydrogen production capacity, even testing the feasibility of producing green hydrogen in the North Sea through the Hydrogen Offshore Production for Europe project.

Finland has ambitious plans to significantly scale up domestic green hydrogen production capacity. Its goal is to supply up to 10% of green hydrogen demand in the EU, as well as grow the use of green hydrogen in the nation’s transport sector to reach a 3% market share by 2030. In 2022, Finland’s finance minister announced plans to develop three hydrogen valleys within the country. For example, the BalticSeaH2 valley project plans to create an integrated hydrogen value chain between Finland and Estonia, and a consortium led by Neste is conducting preliminary studies to develop a hydrogen valley value chain in Finland’s Uusimaa region. These valleys would complement other hydrogen network projects in the country, such as the planned Nordic Hydrogen Route, which is a 1,000km transmission network between Finland and Sweden.

€800m – EU subsidies available for new hydrogen capacity

Italy adopted the Energy and Climate National Integrated Plan in 2019, targeting a 55% reduction in the country’s emissions by 2040—compared with 1990 base levels. To help meet the target, the Italian government plans to incorporate green hydrogen into various industrial and mobility sectors within the country. Italy’s hydrogen strategy includes the development of two major hydrogen valleys in the regions of Rome and Puglia—while a third has been proposed for Sicily by South Africa’s Sasol and Algerian state oil firm Sonatrach, called the Hybla project, which would produce low-carbon hydrogen and syngas. These valleys will include hydrogen production plants. In addition, Italian companies are investing in building hydrogen fuelling stations and using green hydrogen to power industrial operations.

Norway is also developing domestic hydrogen infrastructure. These projects include the production of both green and blue hydrogen and green ammonia, and the development of new hydrogen hubs. The various hubs—in places such as Agdar, Kristiansand and Sauda—will help provide clean fuels to decarbonise Norway’s maritime sector.

Published in 2020, Portugal’s National Strategy for Hydrogen outlined objectives to increase the production and use of green hydrogen in the country’s energy mix. Portugal aims to increase hydrogen consumption in both the industrial and transportation sectors to 5% by 2030. This initiative includes the establishment of 2–2.5GW of hydrogen production capacity, the construction of 50–100 hydrogen fuelling stations and 10–15% hydrogen injected into the national gas grid. These projects are estimated to cost approximately €7b. In mid-2023, Portugal’s Energy Secretary announced the country has firm investment commitments in place that could double or even triple its initial forecast for installed electrolyser capacity.

Sweden is investing in scaling up green hydrogen infrastructure. The country plans to produce green hydrogen to decarbonise several industries, and to produce e-methanol to decarbonise shipping, and for export to neighbouring countries such as Germany and the Netherlands.

Austria’s largest producer of renewable energy, Verbund, is spearheading the multibillion-dollar Green Hydrogen Blue Danube project. The goal of the project is to create a trans-European green hydrogen supply chain that would connect the Danube with the Rhine and the Black Sea, integrating various pipeline networks and maritime ports. The inland waterways will provide pathways to ship green hydrogen—most of which will be produced in Southeastern Europe, primarily Romania—to demand centres in countries such as Austria and Germany. Industry and power providers plan to utilise the zero-carbon hydrogen to mitigate emissions in daily operations—e.g., Austrian chemicals firm Borealis plans to use green hydrogen to produce fertilisers, melamine and other products at its chemical operations in Linz. Green hydrogen will also be used to help decarbonise the country’s power and heat production. Gas storage operator RAG Austria will use green hydrogen to power its cogeneration plant in Gampern. Once operational in Q2 2024, the project will produce green power and heat.

The most capital-intensive project in Greece is the more than €8b White Dragon initiative. The primary goal of this project—being spearheaded by the country’s public gas corporation, DEPA—is to replace the use of lignite with green hydrogen in power generation by 2028. It includes the construction of green hydrogen production facilities, pipelines and other infrastructure to transport and store green hydrogen for industrial and/or transportation use.

Eastern Europe

The four Visegrad countries (Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia) have announced both domestic and cross-border hydrogen initiatives. According to a working paper,  Cooperation Opportunities in Hydrogen Project Support and Development in V4 Countries, the V4 countries’ goals are to significantly increase the production of both low-carbon and green hydrogen, the increased use of hydrogen in vehicles and marine vessels, the blending of hydrogen into the region’s natural gas infrastructure, the use of hydrogen for industrial and residential power generation, construction of hydrogen storage caverns and development other integrated hydrogen value chains.

For example, the V4 countries are developing the more than €5.8b Black Horse project, which envisions a robust integrated green hydrogen supply chain in the region. This includes a green hydrogen production capacity of 320t/d from 40 different electrolysers, more than 10,000 hydrogen-fuelled trucks and a green hydrogen fuelling network, among other hydrogen infrastructure. To complement this, Polish refiner PKN Orlen has announced plans to invest nearly $2b to develop ten hydrogen hubs in the Czech Republic, Poland and Slovakia. These  hubs will be accompanied by more than 100 hydrogen fuelling stations, low-carbon and green hydrogen production plants, and hydrogen fuelling for buses and trains.

Estonia plans to be the first nation to develop a complete, country-wide hydrogen valley. The €1.4b Estonian Hydrogen Valley initiative includes the construction of green hydrogen production facilities, infrastructure to move green hydrogen to demand centres, the installation of hydrogen fuelling centres and the incorporation of green hydrogen into mass-transit vehicles, among other projects.

53,000km – Length of European Hydrogen Backbone

Green hydrogen will help Turkey reach its net-zero ambitions by the early 2050s. The country’s hydrogen strategy—published in late January 2023—calls for 70GW of electrolyser capacity to be in operation by 2053, with interim targets of 2GW in 2025 and 5GW in 2035.

In January 2023, Romania unveiled its Hydrogen Strategy and Action Plan for 2023–30. The plan calls for the installation of approximately 8GW of renewable energy to feed nearly 4,000MW of electrolyser capacity by 2030. This initiative will enable Romania to produce a significant amount of green hydrogen. The action plan also calls for the construction of new hydrogen infrastructure, such as pipelines and storage facilities, as well as five potential hydrogen valleys. Romania will also be the site of a significant amount of green hydrogen production for the Green Hydrogen Blue Danube initiative.

Despite being engaged in a war with Russia, Ukraine is actively considering developing two hydrogen valleys—one in the Zakarpattia region and one in the Odessa region. These could install up to 2.5GW of electrolyser capacity able to produce approximately 220,000t/yr of green hydrogen. They may also receive funding from the EU. 

Russia and the CIS

In the CIS, the most-notable and capital-intensive project is Hyrasia One. The estimated $50b project will include the construction of massive solar and windfarms in the steppes of southwestern Kazakhstan. In total, these renewable power assets will produce approximately 40GW of renewable electricity, which will be used as feedstock to produce up to 2mt/yr of green hydrogen or 11mt/yr of green ammonia. Commissioning of the project is scheduled for 2030, with full capacity to be reached in 2032.

Azerbaijan is targeting renewable energy to comprise 30% of the nation’s electricity generation by 2030. This multibillion-dollar initiative is being developed in two phases. Phase 1 includes the construction of 4GW of renewable power generation (2GW of offshore wind, 1GW of onshore wind and 1GW of solar power), which will also be used for green hydrogen production. Emirati renewables company Masdar and Azerbaijani state-owned oil firm SOCAR have also signed a cooperation agreement with the UAE to develop an additional 6GW of renewable power in Phase 2.

Tajikistan plans to increase domestic renewable capacity to 10GW by 2030. This infrastructure will help the country meet its goal of increasing domestic green hydrogen production to 1mt/yr by 2040. Tajikistan aims to produce 500,000t/yr of green hydrogen by 2030 and double that by 2040. Green hydrogen not used domestically will be exported to Asian nations.

Russia announced an ambitious hydrogen roadmap in 2021. This detailed plan focused on capturing 20% of the world’s hydrogen market by 2030. The three-phase strategy aimed at exporting 200,000t/yr of hydrogen by 2025, with the volume increasing to 2mt/yr by 2035 and 15–50mt/yr by 2050. Since Russia is a major producer of natural gas, most of the country’s hydrogen goals centre on blue hydrogen production with carbon capture. However, several challenges restrict these lofty goals. Firstly, the country’s low-carbon hydrogen industry is in its infancy. A significant amount of capital must be invested to build capacity and pipeline infrastructure, and to install carbon-capture technologies. To help reach Phase 1’s goal of exporting up to 200,000t/yr of low-carbon hydrogen by 2025, the Russian government announced an infusion of approximately $125m to help build up its domestic hydrogen capacity over the next year.

Even if Russia were to quickly increase its domestic low-carbon hydrogen industry, the critical question is who the buyers would be. Due to Russia’s war with Ukraine, hydrogen markets in Western Europe are closed to Russian exports. Since pipelines to Asian countries are in a nascent state, a significant amount of investment will be needed to transport low-carbon hydrogen to markets such as China or to Middle Eastern buyers. One solution would be for Russia to export hydrogen as low-carbon ammonia via marine transport, but no major plans for this have been announced.

The GEI database is tracking more than a dozen active hydrogen projects in Russia, but many are still in early phases.

The second, third and fourth parts of this six-part report covered Asia-Pacific, the Middle East, and Africa, respectively. The next part will cover hydrogen in the Americas. Click here for the introduction to the report.

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Author: Lee Nichols