September 22, 2022: -On Wednesday, the European Commission backed up to 5.2 billion euros in public funding for hydrogen projects, which it said could unlock almost 7 billion euros of investments from the private sector.
The executive arm of the EU stated the bloc’s flagship project to support the research, deployment, and construction of hydrogen infrastructure, which guides IPCEI Hy2Use, prepared by 13 member states to supply the general funding.
The board said IPCEI Hy2Use would approve the construction of “large-scale electrolyzers and transport infrastructure, for the production and vehicle of renewable and low-carbon hydrogen.”
The initiative focuses on creating “innovative and more sustainable technologies for the integration of hydrogen into the industrial processes of multiple sectors” like glass, cement, and steel.
“The IPCEI is anticipated to facilitate the supply of renewable and low-carbon hydrogen, thereby that reduces dependency on the supply of natural gas,” the commission said.
It is said that the International Energy Agency as a “versatile energy carrier,” hydrogen has diverse applications and can be deployed in many industries.
It can be produced in several ways. One method includes electrolysis, with electric current splitting water into oxygen and hydrogen.
If the electricity used in this process came from a renewable source such as wind or solar, then a few call it “green” or “renewable” hydrogen. Today, the vast majority of hydrogen generation is based on fossil fuels.
On Wednesday, among those commenting was Margrethe Vestager, an executive vice president at the commission who is in charge of competition policy.
Vestager stated that the investments approved under Hy2Use would enable roughly 3.5 gigawatts of electrolysis capacity to be built.
This would result “in an output of almost 340,000 tons of renewable and low-carbon hydrogen per year,” she added.
The European Commission wants 40 GW of renewable hydrogen electrolyzers to be installed in the EU by 2030.
