The colors of hydrogen: Spain bets on green, other EU countries do it for blue

• Spain is committed without nuances to green hydrogen, totally renewable, while other EU countries are ‘satisfied’ with blue.
• Grey, which is produced with fossil fuels and used by industry, must be replaced.
• Yellow, pink or turquoise hydrogen are other colors that indicate the way in which the energy of the future is obtained.

Green hydrogen points as one of the renewable energies of the future, which will replace the most polluting technologies and achieve climate neutrality by 2050, that is, an economy free of_CO2 emissions. This is the strategy to which the Spanish government is pointing without nuances, as well as the European Commission and a good part of the EU, based on the most abundant element in the universe but which is always linked to others. The different techniques used to separate it depends on the color that is given, which refers to whether or not in this process of dissociation mediate fossil energies, emitting_CO2.

This dissociation between hydrogen and the element next to which it is found – or ‘electrolysis’ when it comes to an electrical process, although this is not always the case – results in a classification of hydrogen consisting of three officially recognized colors: green, blue and gray. These are the three that, for example, the Institute for Energy Diversification and Saving (IDAE) takes into account.

Each of these types would illustrate three moments of the ecological transition. Grey is the one that is currently used and needs to be replaced. Green is the end of the process towards a renewable hydrogen that countries like Spain want to travel in a single stage. Blue, the ‘transition’ that other EU countries want to make taking advantage of the European standard that months ago considered that investments in natural gas would also be considered green energy.

The only modality that is in its pure state, without being associated with any other element, is a hydrogen that Enagás classifies as “white”. It is found in nature, sometimes in underground deposits and usually in a gaseous state.

Gray or brown hydrogen

It is the origin from which the transition to green will be made. It is obtained from materials rich in hydrocarbons such as methane gas, coal or other fuels and therefore is not considered renewable. Grey specifically is obtained from natural gas and is produced in Spain by the refining or chemical industries. As pointed out in IDAE, in recent decades 70% of gray hydrogen is produced and consumed by this type of industry, not only in Spain, but also in other countries such as France, Germany and the Netherlands, which are large consumers of gray hydrogen.

Green hydrogen

Unlike gray, it is one in which the separation of other elements occurs from water and through electricity generated by technologies that do not emit CO2 into the atmosphere. It is renewable hydrogen in which Spain and the EU set their eyes to ensure that activities for which other types of renewable energies are not useful can work cleanly. The clearest example is industry, which now uses grey hydrogen and should switch to green in the future.

To this end, the IDAE recalls that the Government’s commitment to green hydrogen includes a roadmap that was approved in 2020 and the development of regulations that allow guarantees of the origin of this green hydrogen to be requested. That is, to be sure that it is green in having accredited the facilities that produce it. Meanwhile, the industry is also focused on this renewable energy. Also the European Commission, which prepares a directive that the Government will adapt to regulate green hydrogen.

The bet is not only political, it has an economic leg. The Government approved a PERTE of renewable energies, renewable hydrogen and storage for which 16,370 million euros will be mobilized and the Commission has just approved a project called “IPCEI Hy2Use” of which Spain and 12 other EU countries are part, endowed with 5,200 million of public funds and which expects to add another 7,000 million from the private sector.

In addition to being a sustainable alternative to the energy needed by the industry, green hydrogen appears as an opportunity not only to be independent of fossil fuels that do not exist in Spain and that must be imported, particularly gas. The Government’s plan is also to turn Spain into a “hub” for the production of green hydrogen that would follow the opposite path to that, for example, natural gas from North Africa does today. Instead of being importers of energy materials, it would become an exporter.

Blue hydrogen

Between gray hydrogen and green hydrogen there is another not so polluting but not totally renewable modality with which some EU countries want to make the transition towards climate neutrality.

This is blue hydrogen, which generates_CO2 emissions that are captured to be stored or reused, for example, to make ecofuels.

It is considered a “low emission” hydrogen and the EU allows since July to invest in projects to produce it with the consideration of clean energies. The new European taxonomy allows investments in gas and nuclear to be catalogued in this way and although the Government will still not allow it in its public bonds, there are other Member States that will, as a midpoint until reaching a fossil fuel-free economy in 2050.

“Spain’s way to decarbonize is to replace it [el hidrógeno gris] with green, but another alternative is blue. Some countries see it as a kind of transitional solution so that in 2050 neutrality is reached”, they explain in IDAE.

From here, the ‘unofficial’ chromatic range of hydrogen is extended and also includes pink or turquoise blue, according to a classification prepared by Enagás, which also indicates how hydrogen is separated from other elements.

Pink hydrogen

It is the one obtained from water powered by nuclear energy. According to Enagás, it is a “fairly sustainable” type of hydrogen.

Turquoise hydrogen

The one that is generated by separating it from the metal by melting it by means of natural gas, although Enagás affirms that it also avoids CO2 emissions. “Natural gas passes through a molten metal, releasing hydrogen and solid carbon, thus avoiding polluting emissions,” he says.

Source: 20 Minutos