The public-private European Clean Hydrogen Alliance launched on July 8 plans to deliver the 6 GW of renewable hydrogen electrolyzer capacity by 2024 target set out in the European Commission's new EU hydrogen strategy.
The ECHA will set an investment agenda and "a pipeline of concrete projects," to support scaling up production and demand for renewable and low-carbon hydrogen, it said on its website.
This includes "mobilizing resources and actors to install at least 6 GW of renewable hydrogen electrolyzers in the EU by 2024," and 40 GW by 2030.
Both goals also feature in the EU hydrogen strategy the EC published on July 8, as part of its European Green Deal policy for the EU to be climate neutral by 2050.
The EC estimated it could cost up to Eur9 billion ($10 billion) to achieve the 6-GW renewable electrolyzer goal, in a factsheet on the alliance.
A similar initiative for developing a sustainable European battery sector has mobilized billions of euros of public and private investment since it was set up in 2017.
The ECHA brings together industry, national and local public authorities, and other stakeholders.
The launch meeting on July 8 included interventions from energy ministers from the Czech Republic, France, Germany and Portugal, and a regional minister from the Dutch Groningen province, home to the Netherlands' largest natural gas field.
There were also representatives from Austrian power company Verbund, Dutch gas company Gasunie, Italian gas company Snam and Polish oil company PKN Orlen, as well as the EC and European Investment Bank.
The ECHA is open to any European organization actively involved in renewable and low-carbon hydrogen activities across the full value chain.
'MOONSHOT' FOR PRODUCTION COSTS: SNAM
Snam's CEO Marco Alvera called for a "moonshot," which would bring down production costs for hydrogen produced from zero carbon renewables, or green hydrogen, to $3/kg by 2025, down from $6/kg now, and down to $2/kg by the end of the decade.
"The costs will be significant, but less than what we are currently forecasting," Alvera said. "The appetite is significant."
To take hydrogen projects from demonstration to industrial scale could take time, however, and a gradual reduction of fossil fuels, PKN Orlen CEO Daniel Obajtek said.
Obajtek noted the need to further develop carbon capture and storage technology, which allows a more gradual transition from existing production of hydrogen from fossil fuels to renewables.
"Currently, there is no economic incentive to switch from fossil fuels to hydrogen," he said. "Development of CCS technology is necessary."
EMISSION CUTS
Renewable hydrogen made using electrolyzers and renewable electricity is the long-term priority, the ECHA said.
It would, however, also develop during an unspecified "transition period" hydrogen with significantly lower emissions than current production methods.
This low-carbon hydrogen could be made from natural gas with CCS, or pyrolysis, or from using electrolyzers and low-carbon electricity, such as nuclear.
The EC estimated in its factsheet that using renewable and low-carbon hydrogen could cut industrial emissions by at least 9 million mt/year in 2024 and at least 90 million mt/year in 2030.
The EU has a binding target to cut its emissions by at least 40% from 1990 levels by 2030, and the EC is to propose in September increasing this ambition to a 50%-55% cut.
The ECHA plans to hold CEO roundtables for renewable and low-carbon hydrogen production, transmission and distribution, industrial applications, mobility, energy sector and residential applications.
The main deliverables include developing hydrogen technologies, notably electrolyzers, hydrogen refueling stations, and megawatt-scale fuel cells, "to bring promising technologies to industrial scale," it said.
