More and more companies in Europe are suspending their hydrogen projects because the costs prove too high. At the same time, buyers are lagging behind. This is partly because the ‘preconditions’ are often not in order.
Jacqueline Vaessen, iterim director of NLHydrogen, the trade association of the Dutch hydrogen sector, said:
The pause button has been pressed.
According to De Telegraaf , a major project by Shell, Engie and Vopak, which would produce 400 megawatts of green hydrogen in Portugal, has been stopped. According to Vaessen, this is not yet the case, the project has reportedly been temporarily halted. ‘There are also several projects in Europe that are still continuing.’
Letter to formation table
In order to continue with the development of green hydrogen, which is especially important for achieving climate goals and making the industry more sustainable, the trade association expects more from the government. ‘We see that the Netherlands has an excellent starting position to realize the green hydrogen economy.’ By this, Vaessen refers, among other things, to the wind farms in the North Sea, the infrastructure and knowledge in this area. ‘But we have to be able to make hydrogen at a price that makes it viable, and that is currently lacking.’ NLHydrogen has drawn attention to this in a letter to the forming parties.
Another problem that arises, according to the trade association, is the ‘uneven playing field’ within Europe. It was recently announced that Dutch industry spends 40 percent more on energy than the countries around us. “Then you can’t talk about a level playing field ,” says Vaessen.
Building market
The trade association especially hopes that the projects will get off the ground as quickly as possible. Governments must intervene to ensure that, for example, green hydrogen is not more expensive than gray hydrogen. ‘Governments have all kinds of instruments for standardizing and pricing. But there are hardly any green hydrogen molecules in this world. This market still needs to be completely built, and for this we first have to arrange the supply.’
Hydrogen projects stall due to missing ‘preconditions’ – Netherlands. source
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