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Italy is putting many eggs in the hydrogen basket to decarbonise its heavy industry, including its prized steel sector. Authorities dream of converted hydrogen steel plants and “hydrogen valleys” dotted across the country. But while attention is focussed on whether hydrogen can solve Italy’s problems, other key ingredients to make the hydrogen green are being ignored
A lack of progress in Italy’s renewables and grid capacity could derail its hydrogen plans
LOCATION LOCATION LOCATION Italy is well-placed geographically to become Europe’s central hub for the green hydrogen industry with excellent renewables resources in the country or nearby and easy links to northern Europe
COMPETITION CONCERNS European steel using green hydrogen needs to be able to compete with foreign imports, therefore electricity and carbon prices are key
KEY QUOTE If Italy does not resolve its permitting issues it will not reach its renewable energy targets in electricity, let alone build up a strong renewable hydrogen industry ...
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Set up at the end of the Cold War, the Energy Charter Treaty, without significant reform, is now largely irrelevant and doing more harm than good to the energy transition, argues Sarah Keay-Bright, independent consultant and previously expert at the Energy Charter Secretariat
Europe can lead the world on emission-free hydrogen, but it needs to solve the dilemma that industry offers the greatest potential demand, while the profit margins are in transport. Bart Biebuyck from the European Fuel Cell and Hydrogen Joint Undertaking argues the value of emission-free hydrogen must be judged by more than its price tag versus fossil fuels
Hydrogen suffers from an abundance of hype, particularly about what it can be used for in the energy transition. Wild claims for the application of hydrogen, with little basis in current science and commercial reality, have worked to obscure the realistic opportunities for putting truly clean hydrogen to work here and now
The huge scale of offshore wind farms being built in northern Europe is bringing a new understanding of how much electricity can be gleaned from the wind on land and at sea
Without a European grid up to the task of not only meeting more demand for electricity, but also assimilating it from distributed renewables, green electrification of heating and transport is stymied from the start. Decarbonisation requires new infrastructure, yet the public is having none of it.
