Moment of truth looms for European green hydrogen investments
Energy transition highlights: Our editors and analysts bring you the biggest stories from the industry this week, from renewables to storage to carbon prices.
Time is running out to get on track with Europe's ambitious 2030 hydrogen production targets as developers due to take final investment decisions battle macroeconomic headwinds, industry representatives said at the Reuters Hydrogen conference in Amsterdam.
Recent years have seen a multitude of project announcements, pre-front end engineering design studies, FEED studies and preliminary investments, though FIDs have been scarce.
“There are some board rooms that are getting a little bit impatient by now,” Rabobank Executive Director Hyung-ja de Zeeuw said April 9. “If you think that we’ve only got six years left until 2030, I guess 2024 is going to be a key year for clean hydrogen projects here in Europe.”
Around 4% of announced clean hydrogen projects in Europe have taken FIDs, according to Hydrogen Council Director Policy and Partnerships Daria Nochevnik.
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Australia will unveil a new plan in 2024 to support clean energy and green manufacturing projects to compete better against other nations’ subsidy schemes such as the US’ Inflation Reduction Act to draw investments in clean fuels, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said, in what is being seeing as a pointer to big new fund allocations coming up.
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The first pilot auction for green hydrogen production under the EU’s European Hydrogen Bank facility will clear comfortably below the price ceiling of Eur4.50/kg ($4.89/kg), Innovation Fund policy officer Johanna Schiele said April 10. The results of the first Eur800 million auction will be released on April 30, Schiele said.
Using hydrogen to generate power in New York does not currently add up economically, but there is reason for optimism as the technology to do so will likely be needed in some capacity to help meet state decarbonization goals, experts said.
China Energy Investment Corporation, one of the country’s largest state-owned energy companies, has started construction of its renewable ammonia project in Cangzhou in the eastern province of Hebei with a planned annual production capacity of 100,000 mt, likely to be completed by Q4 2025.
Sustainable Energy Advisor | Business Developer | Decarbonization & Climate Strategiest | CEM & CAP | LEED AP
7mogreat development for the hydrogen projects in europe 👍