What’s the gamechanger that will kick-start a hydrogen economy in Europe and beyond?
That was the question a panel of experts tackled at the Eurelectric Power Summit in Brussels.
Jesse Scott, director of international programmes at Agora Energiewende, set the scene: “When we talk about decarbonising the energy system, what we are talking about is inverting the historic energy system. This is a profound change.”
Hydrogen has a key role in this inversion, but she stressed: “There is currently no international trade in hydrogen. So: how do we get it started?”
David Bryson of Uniper said that “hydrogen has never been more critical for the diversification of the energy mix. We need all sources of hydrogen and the ramp-up must be quick. We need ambitious, pragmatic targets and we need to be open to all sources of hydrogen.”
And in a reference to those who would shun one colour of hydrogen in favour of another, he said: “Our focus should be on CO2 reduction, not on an ideology – pipelines don’t care what colour it is.”
He added that all of this must be in place in order to establish “which is the domino that goes first” that starts the whole value chain.
Jesse Scott also summed this message: “Don’t make the ‘perfect’ the enemy of the ‘good’ – let’s get on with the good.”
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Bryson and Gaia Stigliani, principal at AFRY Management Consulting, agreed that for the utilisation of hydrogen in industry, there needs to be a targeted approach to those sectors that need H2 to decarbonise most urgently.
Stigliani said that “we need scale to bring the costs down” and added that it was important to “think about hydrogen in terms of the energy sector of tomorrow”.
And what was Scott’s gamechanger: “Collaboration between the business community, policymakers and technology providers.”
View the Eurelectric Power Summit agenda and join the conversation.
