Editorial

Sometimes problems seem so big that their solutions seem too banal. The hydrogen ramp-up is such a case: the entire technology has already been written off by some before a few pilot IPCEI projects are even really up and running. Green hydrogen is allegedly destined to remain too expensive for climate-friendly metal and chemical production, to power ships or aircraft, or even to provide a climate-neutral backup for future periods of low wind and solar output.

But the difficult situation in the EU with the hydrogen ramp-up is largely caused by the EU itself. With two criteria for the production of green hydrogen, the EU is making hydrogen massively more difficult and expensive: from 2028, green electricity may only come from new wind or solar farms (“additionality criterion”), thereby artificially restricting the supply of green electricity, given that many wind farms could actually provide cheaper power after their 20-year subsidy period ends but are instead excluded. Why should electricity be treated more restrictively for environmentally friendly electrolysers than for new AI data centres? As an ecologically minded electrical engineer, I can’t understand that.  

Secondly, from 2030 onwards, the green electricity in an electrolyser has to be balanced every hour – in other words, the exact amount of electricity consumed by the electrolyser during that specific hour must have been purchased simultaneously (the “simultaneous production criterion”). Prior to 2030, this balancing can be done on a monthly basis, which significantly reduces the total amount of green electricity that needs to be secured through a power purchase agreement. This transitional arrangement until 2030 is standard practice for an emerging technology, ensuring it isn’t overburdened with costs at the outset before scaling up further to bring down power production costs. However, 2030 is fast approaching, and the EU has already lost a significant amount of time with the lengthy bureaucratic processes surrounding its hydrogen initiatives.

Green hydrogen could be about 30% cheaper if the criteria of simultaneous production and additionality were postponed. It’s that simple. Therefore, the Förderverein support association of our cluster EEHH e.V., together with five other North German networks, has proposed a very simple solution to this major problem in a position paper: the postponement of compliance with these criteria for green hydrogen from 2028 and 2030 to 2035. Let’s hope that Brussels acts on this momentum – so that green hydrogen is not made unnecessarily expensive!