Europe is committed to green hydrogen

Europe is committed to green hydrogen

Hydrogen is a chemical element that can be produced with clean technologies. Green hydrogen has undergone a real revolution throughout 2020 in terms of its potential as a clean alternative fuel, becoming one of the major European measures to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050.

It is necessary to use clean alternative fuels and develop their applications to gradually eliminate fossil fuels, and green hydrogen, together with renewable energies, aims to replace other more polluting energy sources of fossil origin such as coal, oil and gas. At the same time, the development of this new energy source ensures the competitiveness of the EU’s industry.

What are the uses of green hydrogen? Currently, in addition to energy storage, it has applications in the chemical industry to produce ammonia and fertilisers, and in the petrochemical industry to produce petroleum derivatives. However, new applications are already being studied, such as in the steel industry, and its development and massive implementation in the mobility sector.

Hydrogen can be produced from different precursors through chemical or biochemical processes: electrolysis of water (when this electrolysis uses electricity from renewable sources, the product is considered to be “green hydrogen”), thermolysis or bioreactors that ferment waste, generating gases in the process.

Creating a common legal framework: the hydrogen law 

For the generation and exploitation of hydrogen, the European Commission had to define a legal framework; and thus the Hydrogen Act was born last year, which establishes a framework that regulates and integrates all independent actions and legislation related to hydrogen; and proposes the steps to create a clean hydrogen market. It defines 3 phases in this process:

  • hydrogen act
  • The kick-start phase (2021-2025): this phase lays the foundations for the European hydrogen economy. The aim is to complete this phase with an annual production of 1 million tonnes of clean hydrogen per year and the installation of at least 6GW of electrolysers. This requires the funding of mature projects that demonstrate scalability, as well as R&D&I projects that contribute to improving European competitiveness in this field.
  • The ramp-up phase (2025 – 2035): during this phase, European programmes will provide crucial elements to grow the European hydrogen economy to improve European competitiveness (e.g. storage systems) and of course, measures to stimulate supply and demand will be created: investment grants, fiscal measures, etc.
  • The market-growth phase (2035 – 2050): once the market has reached maturity and competitiveness, it will be necessary to review the previously established legal frameworks. The market will be transparent and liquid, and the law of supply and demand will regulate the pricing system.

European funding for the development of green hydrogen 

This sector is one of the main beneficiaries of the main European funds and programmes: Next Generation, Green Deal, Horizon Europe, etc.

The European Union aims to produce one million tonnes of green hydrogen by 2025. By 2030, it should reach 10 million tonnes per year. This exponential growth is in line with the EU’s objectives of emission neutrality and zero pollution, with hydrogen expected to account for 14% of the energy mix by 2050, compared with 2% at present.

Are you defining a project related to green hydrogen and do you know what calls may be of interest? With the launch of the Horizon Europe Pillar 2 calls and the LIFE programme just around the corner, there are only a few calls open at the moment.

  1. HORIZON-EIC-2021-ACCELERATORCHALLENGES-01-02 | Green Deal innovations for the Economic Recovery

Closing date:

Phase 1: 16 June 2021.

Phase 2 will end on 6 October 2021.

Closing date: 22 September 2021

Closing date: 6 October 2021

However, we already know of a number of related Topics that will be launched in the future:

  • In early 2022, and with a possible closing date in spring of the same year, calls for the Clean Hydrogen Partnership, specifically focused on hydrogen, will be opened, also within Horizon Europe.
  • Within Horizon Europe’s Cluster 5 (Pillar 2), which is about to be launched

While waiting for these opportunities to arrive, with Kaila, discover the projects that are already underway and the entities involved, to start preparing your proposal. Thanks to Kaila, you can increase your project’s chances of success!

Tags: Innovation trends