The EC says that the energy shortage makes “green hydrogen” competitive

The president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, called on Monday to invest in clean hydrogen, which she described as “the energy of the next generation”, and stressed that the shortage of gas is making that technology still in development is becoming economically competitive.

“It is starting to be competitive, also from an economic point of view because due to the current gas price crisis, green hydrogen, today, can be even cheaper than gray hydrogen,” von der Leyen said in her opening speech at the European Hydrogen Week forum.

Hydrogen (H2) is a very abundant chemical element that generates almost all the energy produced by stars and that on the Earth’s surface is usually integrated into other compounds such as water or hydrocarbons.

To use it as an energy source, the first thing is to get pure hydrogen, for example, by breaking down water (H2O) from electric current through a process called electrolysis.

It is considered “green” when the energy used for that process comes from renewable sources without CO emission.₂, for example, of surplus wind power that may not be used at night, while hydrogen obtained from fossil fuels, which generate carbon dioxide, is called “gray”, “brown” or “black”.

Von der Leyen recalled that the European Commission has launched several initiatives to accompany the development of clean hydrogen, which “will have a central role in the climate-neutral economy of the future.”

He added that Brussels’ goal is for it to reach 1.8 euros per kilo by 2030 and for European production by the end of the decade to reach 10 million tons, with an intermediate step of 1 million tons in 2024.

According to the data that the European Commission handled in its Strategy for Clean Hydrogen in July 2020, it is estimated that generating a kilo of clean “gray” hydrogen costs around 1.5 euros, which becomes more expensive to 2 euros if the CO is captured and stored.₂ released, while the cost of hydrogen obtained with renewable energy amounts to 2.5 and 5.5 euros per kilo.

“I want Europe to be a corridor that is at the forefront while building a global hydrogen market,” added von der Leyen, who indicated that 55% of new projects on that technology are in Europe.

The president of the Commission recalled that the recent climate conference of Gaslgow COP26 made it clear that “the world is not yet on track” to prevent the rise in temperatures from being limited to 1.5 degrees by the end of the century, compared to pre-industrial values.

“We have to accelerate significantly,” said von der Leyen, who believes green hydrogen can contribute significantly to reaching that climate goal.

Source: EFE