Today, the European Union adopted strategies for energy system integration and hydrogen, paving the way “towards a more efficient and interconnected energy sector, driven by the twin goals of a cleaner planet and a stronger economy.” In particular, the hydrogen strategy reflects the need and opportunity for countries and regions across the EU to collaborate on development and benefits from the expanding hydrogen economy. This coordinated approach will enable hydrogen integration activities to address needs and add value locally, while simultaneously creating a more resilient, durable and effective energy system—utilizing renewable hydrogen and electricity—across Europe.
This strategy is one of many produced by California’s climate allies. The Hydrogen Council estimated in its “Path to Competitiveness” report earlier this year that 18 countries had produced road maps or strategy documents, including the United States. And more are expected to follow.
California has not been idle either. In 2018, CaFCP produced a vision for 2030, The California Fuel Cell Revolution, calling for 1,000 hydrogen stations serving upwards of 1,000,000 cars, buses and trucks. Like other strategy documents by our climate allies, it recognizes the need for continued partnership between government, industry, investors and others to achieve a self-sustaining market. Most recently, the California Energy Commission released a Roadmap for the Deployment and Buildout of Renewable Hydrogen Production Plants in California, produced by UC Irvine’s Advanced Power and Research Program, which concludes that, with appropriate policy support, the renewable hydrogen sector can reach self-sustainability (price point at parity with conventional fuel on a fuel-economy adjusted basis) by the mid- to late 2020s
The EU’s hydrogen strategy, “A hydrogen strategy for a climate-neutral Europe,” looks at how to scale up and support hydrogen production through investments, regulation, market creation and research and innovation.
The document identifies three phases to this transition. We have retained their exact words below to describe the phases.
- From 2020 to 2024, we will support the installation of at least 6 gigawatts of renewable hydrogen electrolysers in the EU, and the production of up to one million tonnes of renewable hydrogen.
- From 2025 to 2030, hydrogen needs to become an intrinsic part of our integrated energy system, with at least 40 gigawatts of renewable hydrogen electrolysers and the production of up to ten million tonnes of renewable hydrogen in the EU.
- From 2030 to 2050, renewable hydrogen technologies should reach maturity and be deployed at large scale across all hard-to-decarbonise sectors.
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