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June 23, 2022

June 17 marked the deadline for two public consultations driven by the European Commission regarding the green hydrogen standards to be implemented by the European Union (EU) under the Renewable Energy Directives published in 2018. Once adopted, these documents will complete the Commission’s overall proposal on the regulatory framework for hydrogen.

The first proposal is focused on renewable fuels of non-biological origin and sets out the criteria for products that fall into the “renewable hydrogen” category, important for meeting renewable energy targets for the transport sector. The second proposal is on the methodology for greenhouse gas savings and presents a detailed scheme for calculating the life-cycle emissions of renewable hydrogen, as well as recycled carbon fuels, to meet the greenhouse gas emissions reduction threshold set out in the Renewable Energy Directive.

Andrés Jara, commercial and new business manager of Pares&Alvarez, explains that the step being taken by the European Commission is very important to define a certification process for green hydrogen that allows clarity in the requirements that this industry will have.

“Today, as there is no such regulatory framework, for example, it is complex to determine what is considered green or renewable generation. So, if we have methodologies and procedures, the entire value chain will have process designs and clear rules for the product and thus ensure that hydrogen is indeed green. This will allow us to have certainties and a certification process where projects can be anchored in the future,” adds Jara.

Once the consultations are concluded, the Commission will propose a final text to the European Parliament and Council, which will have a two-month period to comment on the document before its final adoption by the Commission.

Given the significant potential of hydrogen to support decarbonization objectives, this process is in line with the EU’s intention to boost hydrogen investment in the coming years.

The Commission’s working document accompanies the REPowerEU plan, which defines actions to increase hydrogen demand and supply, which aims to produce 10 million tons of renewable hydrogen in the EU by 2030 – up from the 5.6 million tons already foreseen in the EU framework proposals to decarbonize gas markets published in December 2021 – and import 10 million tons of renewable hydrogen from third countries.

Andrés Jara stresses that “it is possible that we are facing a unique possibility of generating a very powerful industry around hydrogen, as there are currently expectations that many projects will be generated for which Pares&Alvarez has the capabilities and experience to develop them, since since its foundation in 1994, it has had a strong presence in the chemical industry, unlike other national companies, in the handling of chemical processes of hydrogen, ammonia and methanol,” he says.

 

Source: Commission launches consultations on the regulatory framework for renewable hydrogen