Hydrogen will play an essential role as an energy transporter and storage medium in the European Union in the future. Thierry Breton, the EU’s Internal Market Commissioner, has visited European electrolyzer producers.
The manufacture of hydrogen necessitates the presence of technical systems capable of producing hydrogen. A new sector might take off soon, with a worldwide market worth billions on the horizon.
Electrolyzers are the core of a hydrogen-generating facility
Wind turbines, for example, are required as technical systems for energy conversion to utilize the wind, and electrolyzers, as related technical systems, are also required for hydrogen synthesis. Water is divided into hydrogen and oxygen with the assistance of these technologies, which use (green) power. Pure water is created instead of climate-damaging carbon dioxide in later uses, such as direct hydrogen combustion or electrochemical (cold) combustion in fuel cells.
The worldwide electrolyzer market is still in its early stages. However, given the present fast-changing framework circumstances, industrial production might soon drastically cut hydrogen production costs, resulting in the emergence of a new industrial sector.
Industry of electrolyzers: plans to tenfold manufacturing capacity
Thierry Breton met with European electrolyzer producers to explore ways to boost the industry’s ability to produce electrolyzers for clean hydrogen generation.
Breton and 20 other industry CEOs signed a joint statement pledging to tenfold the sector’s electrolyzer manufacturing capacity by 2025. By 2030, the EU will be able to produce 10 million tonnes of renewable hydrogen annually. As a partial effort to lessen the EU’s reliance on Russian gas, this aim was previously specified in the draft EU plan “REPowerEU” from March 2022. It is also intended to import an additional 10 million tons of hydrogen per year.
“Clean hydrogen is crucial to cut industry’s carbon emissions and help to our energy independence from Russia,” said Internal Market Commissioner Thierry Breton. We cannot afford to waste time, which is why the European Electrolyser Summit is so crucial. The Commission will assist this critical industrial upscaling in order to position industry leadership in future clean energy technologies.”
With a legal framework, the EU hopes to boost the hydrogen market
The EU Commission intends to help the electrolyzer industry expand its production capacity by making it simpler to obtain financing and supporting efficient supply chains, among other things. Furthermore, the approval of renewable energy projects, including renewable hydrogen, will be hastened, among other things.
Electrolyzers for hydrogen generation are made by ThyssenKrupp subsidiary Nucera in Germany, Sunfire GmbH, Siemens Energy, Nel ASA in Norway, Plug Power in the United States, and ITM Power in the United Kingdom.
