Hydrogen deployment – From plans to practice

Niek Schumacher reflects on the hype around hydrogen and how its business case could be made green. As you might remember from chemistry lessons at school, hydrogen is both the lightest element in the periodic table and constitutes 75% of the mass of the universe. And despite being such an innocuous little molecule, it is about to play a third major role in the energy revolution. The recent hype around hydrogen as the Holy Grail of the energy transition is mainly thanks to its incredible versatility; enabling it to replace fossil fuels in mobility, heating and electricity generation and serve as a low-carbon feedstock for industrial processes. Though hydrogen is currently not playing the role some might foresee it having in the future, it is important to note that the petrochemical and fertilizer industry are already consuming enormous volumes of the stuff. Unfortunately for Mother Nature, this hydrogen is produced using natural gas, a process which causes significant carbon emissions. On a global scale this so-called grey hydrogen is responsible for almost 2% of worldwide emissions, more than the carbon emissions in the UK.

Unlocking the Path to Green Hydrogen in Europe: Assessing Challenges to Deployment, EU Political Intervention, and the Access to Finance In this article, I will delve into the status quo and path ahead for a European green hydrogen economy. It will focus on the challenges to deployment, the outlook for project finance and the EU’s political response to the American Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), which was analyzed in Josh and Agathe’s recent blog post. Read on to explore this fascinating crossroads of energy policy, technology, and finance, and feel free to engage in the comments section of the original LinkedIn post.