According to the Spanish newspaper La Vanguard, on December 3, 2022, Madrid, Spain** summoned journalists specializing in energy coverage to the Spanish Prime Minister's Office to announce a major news. Spain** has signed an agreement with Maersk, one of the world's largest shipping companies. Under the agreement, the multinational will invest 10 billion euros in Spain to produce 2 million tonnes of methanol synthesized from green hydrogen as a sustainable fuel for its cargo ships. In July 2023, without publicity, it was learned that the project had been postponed. This Friday, during the 28th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, the minimum allocation of the agreement was saved. Maersk will invest €1 billion in green methanol with Petrole, but the investment will not be in place by 2025.
According to the International Energy Agency, this phenomenon has spread dangerously around the world, and the situation in Spain is just one example. According to the International Energy Agency's latest hydrogen report, only 4% of the 1,730 green hydrogen projects announced worldwide have received real funding (an amount that is enough to be believed). "Only about half of the projects are in the early stages of growth," the report states. ”
There is no doubt that low-carbon hydrogen, whether green, blue, pink, ......will be a key technology to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050. But the problem is that all the good intentions announced so far need to be translated into real projects, and the process is dangerously slowing down. José Miguel Bermúdez, energy technology analyst at the International Energy Agency, commented at a meeting organized by the Madrid Energy Club with executives of key companies in the sector.
According to the report, only 1% of the world's current hydrogen production needs are produced in low-emission ways (including pink hydrogen from nuclear power and blue hydrogen from carbon capture technology). The IEA warns that in order to achieve the 2050 net-zero target, "low-emission hydrogen production needs to increase 100-fold by 2030".
Energy experts and entrepreneurs see this as a difficult challenge. "Even the EU's new €3 billion earmarked for the European Hydrogen Bank and the new priority projects that have been announced will not be able to overcome this challenge," Bermud said. ”
If there is one word to define the current state of the industry, it is uncertainty, especially in the short term. In the long run, we can say that there is 'positive uncertainty'. In the case of Spain, it is clear that it can produce the cheapest hydrogen in Europe, but for this to happen, more and more public support must be encouraged. Miguel Angel Rodríguez Castelliot, head of hydrogen project development at Spanish energy company Naturgy, said.
In the wake of the war in Ukraine, countries urgently need to push for projects to ensure energy self-sufficiency. The EU alone plans to allocate more than 20 billion euros to promote green hydrogen. At the same time, the United States is also promoting green hydrogen through the Inflation Reduction Act.
These incentives have sparked a boom in hydrogen projects. According to the International Energy Agency, if all these measures are implemented, the world could produce 38 million tonnes of low-emission hydrogen by 2030. "However, not all of these projects have been translated into actual implementation. Bermúdez warned. (Compiled by Tian Ce).