Ian Williamson, President of the European Hydrogen Association gave a presentation on “Hydrogen production and energy storage: hopes and reality” at the European Parliament on Tuesday 29th June. He indicated that hydrogen molecules have to be produced as sustainably as possible. “As we are in a competitive market place, hydrogen is currently produced from natural gas if it is sold to industry. Carbon costs will allow transition to moresustainable production methods. Technologies are multiple: wind, biogas etc. It is essential to use different ways and not to choose a single route”. Mr Williamson stated that commercial scale green hydrogen is available in some technologies. The challenge consists of scaling up this technology. He added that centralised plants are likely to be most cost effective. He reaffirmed the industry’s will to work on green hydrogen production, in collaboration with all the players. This will be a gradual process. As methods for green production are or close to be available it is of paramount importance to invest in newtechnologies. “Hydrogen is the only fuel that over the long run, has the ability to meet the objectives regarding energy independence, greenhouse gas emissions and sustainability “, he concluded.
MEP Vittorio Prodi, Chair of the subgroup “Energy” of the Intergroup “Climate Change, Biodiversity and Sustainable Development” hosted the event. The programme also included a presentation of the EHA Belgian Association member and director of the Flemish South Netherlands regions’ initiative WaterstofNet, Adwin Martens.
He mentioned a certain number of on-going projects such as a project run by Gas Natural in Spain using 5 wind turbines or the Hercules project with photovoltaic power. The latter uses the same principles as wind turbines, i.e electricity is produced in a green way and stored by using electrolysis. Technology exists primarily in small scale applications. Mr Williamson expressed concerns about how to scale up this technology. Furthermore, he underlined the potential of the municipal waste gasification.
The CTC Network promotes the accelerated transfer of environmentally sound technologies for low carbon and climate resilient development at the request of developing countries.
