In 2020, when the Slovenian and Austrian partners launched the H2GreenTECH project, green hydrogen technologies also received a lot of attention at the European level. These are expected to make a significant contribution to the decarbonisation of industrial processes and economic sectors. This is essential if we want to achieve the goal set in the European Green Deal of making Europe the world’s first carbon-neutral continent by 2050.
European Clean Hydrogen Alliance was launched in March 2020 as part of the new European Industrial Strategy and to support EU implementation of the Hydrogen Strategy and represents a new clean energy investment program under the Commission’s Recovery plan for Europe. The hydrogen strategy provides for a gradual transition to hydrogen:
- Between 2020 and 2024, the EU will support the installation of renewable hydrogen electrolysis plants with a capacity of at least 6 gigawatts and the production of up to 1 million tons of renewable hydrogen;
- between 2025 and 2030, hydrogen must become an integral part of our energy interconnection system, with the aim of installing renewable hydrogen electrolysis plants with a capacity of at least 40 gigawatts and the production of up to 10 million tons of renewable hydrogen in the EU, and;
- between 2030 and 2050, renewable hydrogen technologies should be mature and widely used in all sectors that are difficult to decarbonise.
European Clean Hydrogen Alliance brings together industry, research institutions, national and regional authorities, civil society and the European Investment Bank, and will develop an investment program to increase production and support the demand for clean hydrogen in the EU. By joining the Alliance, the National Institute of Chemistry will contribute to a more ambitious deployment of hydrogen technologies in the EU by 2030 by linking renewable and low-carbon hydrogen production, industrial, mobility and other demand, and hydrogen transmission and distribution. An important contribution and a basis for the further development of green hydrogen technologies in the coming years will be provided by the results of the H2GreenTECH project, where we are bringing together the fragmented knowledge on hydrogen technologies and fuel cells, which is, therefore, under-utilized. The establishment of a One-stop-shop Hydrogen center based in Maribor with supporting laboratories in Ljubljana, Graz and Villach will provide easy access to a comprehensive research infrastructure for hydrogen technologies. Based on the shared expertise on green hydrogen technologies and fuel cells, technology protocols will be improved and demonstration models for the use of hydrogen in transport and industry will be developed, enabling all interested parties to test fuel cells and methodologies.
Prepared by: Petra Props, project coordinator at National Institute of Chemistry
