“The market for solar and wind is somewhat similar; hydrogen requires us to rewire the market to support and implement projects,” said Sara Di Mario, founder of Hazel New Energy, on Day One of Solar Media’s Green Hydrogen Summit EU 2024.
Discussing the topic in the opening session of the day, Reality Check – How many actual hydrogen projects are there in Europe, Mario stated that the market for wind and solar is similar in that they generate renewable energy. On the other hand, green hydrogen requires a complete “rewiring” of the market to ensure early adopters and projects can be supported and grow.
This is a crucial aspect of the hydrogen market. Ana Quelhas, managing director for Hydrogen at EDP, mentioned during the panel discussion that the market is “struggling to get commitment from off-takers”.
“We expected it to be much more advanced, but the reality is that decisions are taking much longer than originally expected,” Quelhas said.
Troubles surrounding off-takers are not new to the green hydrogen market, and this has created issues around the development of the clean energy carrier’s role in the energy transition. Due to the reluctance to adopt green hydrogen, production plans have started to stutter.
The European Commission’s plans to develop Hydrogen Valleys, geographical locations being used to develop a circular hydrogen economy, are a “successful topic but very complex,” noted Dr Stefan Kaufmann, former innovation commissioner for Green Hydrogen at the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF), Germany, before calling the EU to “accelerate its deployment”.
Questions about hydrogen infrastructure
Another topic explored in the opening panel discussion was the import of green hydrogen to the EU. The REPowerEU plan set the political ambition of having 20 million tonnes of renewable hydrogen per year in the EU by 2030, with 10 million tonnes via domestic production and up to 10 million tonnes imported.
Shipping is the most effective method of transporting hydrogen, particularly by sea from the Americas, Australia and Asia. However, this comes with its own set of challenges.
Shipping green hydrogen requires the clean energy carrier to be converted into ammonia. When this arrives at the port, it needs to be converted back into green hydrogen via what is known as ‘cracking’, which uses a catalytic cracking furnace whereby the ammonia synthesis reaction is reversed at elevated temperatures.
According to Kaufmann, this is a challenge for the market, mainly due to the costs that might be involved via this process.
“We don’t just need a hydrogen pipeline but harbour/port infrastructure. We need an import strategy for this – especially with all the ammonia that will need cracking, which should be across the EU. At the moment, we have no idea what the cracking price is,” Kaufmann said.
Alba Soler, power-to-X director at Voltalia, agreed with Kaufamann and added: “Importing hydrogen to Europe is going to be a big challenge with its transportation. You must go for big scale if you want to be competitive in Europe.”
