The Government has only launched a third of the European funds for green hydrogen and ‘batteries’

“Hydrogen is a vector […] key to achieving a clean, safe and affordable energy future, because it allows decarbonizing sectors where it is complex to introduce sustainable solutions, such as heavy transport, steel, cement, the chemical industry …”, defended in December 2021 the Ministry for the Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge. It did so on the occasion of the approval in the Council of Ministers of the Strategic Project for the Recovery and Economic Transformation (Perte) of Renewable Energies, Green Hydrogen and Storage (Erha), linked to the Recovery Plan financed with European funds.

The energy crisis, exacerbated by the war in Ukraine since February this year and the threat of a Russian gas cut, has highlighted the importance of renewables. And green hydrogen and storage technologies are key in this transition from fossil sources (mainly oil and, of course, gas). However, the Government has only launched, so far, a third of the European funds provided for in the Recovery Plan for renewable hydrogen projects and battery systems.

The Fedea analysis center has made this calculation in a report published on Monday with data up to July of this year. And while barely 987 million euros of the 2920 million planned for these renewable technologies have been mobilized, of the total (almost 70,000 million) of the Next Generation EU Recovery Plan, almost 50% has been launched (see graph).

Sources of Ecological Transition explain to elDiario.es that it was necessary to “create from scratch” a new market and that is done “progressively”. “We must encourage both production and demand,” continue from the Ministry of the third vice president Teresa Ribera. And we must bear in mind that “both storage and hydrogen are immature technologies,” they stress.

Ángel de la Fuente, director of Fedea and author of the report, observes that, given that the Recovery Plan did not start “until the second half of 2021, the ‘start-up rate’ has so far been around 23% per semester, which in principle would be consistent with the deadlines established for the allocation of funds.”

Of course, he points out that there are “important differences” between the different items, such as renewable [se pusieron en marcha 400 millones en 2021 y van 150 en 2022] hydrogen and storage [387 last year, and only 50 million so far this year]. “And the most delayed”, which are “transport infrastructures and environmental actions, with less than 30%”.

Limited information on final implementation

“If we stick to the official execution [general] data of the General State Administration, the situation is good: the bulk of the expenditure budgeted in 2021 as part of the Recovery Plan (85%) has been executed within the year, which will presumably be repeated in 2022. In many cases, however, this only means that these resources have begun the journey to their final destination, which may involve several transfers between administrations or public entities until reaching the one that, ultimately, will be responsible for managing the corresponding calls or tenders, “says Ángel de la Fuente.

“It is therefore appropriate to distinguish between provisional implementation and final implementation or final expenditure of the Funds. [europeos], reserving the latter term for payments to the final recipients of the aid or to the companies executing the investments tendered, while the former would correspond to transfers of funds between administrations or public sector entities on the way to that final destination. On the final execution of European funds we have very limited information, because the agencies and administrations in charge of it do not publish budget execution reports with the same haste and detail as the General State Administration, “says the economist.

With this “limited” information, the conclusion of the Fedea report is that the final execution barely reached 27.2% in 2021 and that it is only going for 5.18% in 2022 (until July).

There is a roadmap, but the money is not moved

“Spain already has a renewable hydrogen roadmap that establishes, among others, the objective of reaching 4GW of production capacity in 2030, 10% of the EU total”, highlight in Ecological Transition.

And they expose more data. For example, the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) calculates that in Spain renewable hydrogen will be cheaper than fossil hydrogen in 2026, only after China, Brazil and India. “And that we already have installed the largest electrolyzer in Europe, in Puertollano,” they add.

Or that of all hydrogen projects worldwide, 20% are located in Spain, according to Úrsula Von der Leyen, president of the European Commission. Finally, our country has asked that the new gas pipelines that are built, such as Midcat or the submarine that could connect us with Italy, are already prepared to transport green hydrogen.

Hydrogen’s targets for 2030

The Government’s hydrogen roadmap sets out the following concrete targets for 2030, with associated investment [pública y privada] of 8,900 million euros: 4,000MW of power from electrolyzers, 25% of the consumption of the industry, from 5,000 to 7,000 light and heavy vehicles powered by hydrogen, from 150 to 200 hydrogenerators for public use and two commercial train lines.

“To help achieve these objectives, the Government has launched the Perte of Renewable Energies, Hydrogen and Storage (Erha)”, emphasize in the Ministry of Ecological Transition.

This Monday, from the secretariat of economy, energy and productive model of Podemos stated that “we must not forget that it is necessary to increase public investment in renewable energies, thus ensuring in the medium term the strategic supply of green and cheap energy”.

“This is not exactly a time to reduce an investment that is crucial, and that over the next few years will reduce our country’s fossil fuel imports and, with it, the external dependence on these energies. On the contrary, now is the time to bet on promoting, even more, the energy transition”, they conclude.

Source: El Diario