Siemens Gamesa has defended the promotion of green hydrogen as “key” to achieving energy security in Europe in the current situation caused by the war in Ukraine and has called on governments to invest in the local production of this technology “to provide energy security and price stability to consumers”.
The group has presented its ‘white paper’ on ‘How to achieve energy security in Europe’, which describes the energy supply challenges facing Europe since the invasion of Ukraine and the actions needed to achieve stability and energy security, while addressing the climate emergency and achieving decarbonization.
In this regard, the wind turbine manufacturer warns of the need to “drastically” increase renewable energy production to achieve energy security and meet environmental targets.
Thus, it considers that sectors that find it difficult to electrify themselves can make progress in decarbonization by investing in the development of green hydrogen.
Siemens Gamesa stresses that in the last three months the need for nations to urgently protect and secure their energy supply has increased exponentially, after geopolitical events have made energy security now “the top” priority for European governments, both in terms of guaranteeing an independent supply and ensuring stable prices for the consumer.
Siemens Gamesa CEO Jochen Eickholt stressed the importance of addressing energy security and decarbonization together, as “the current crisis must not be allowed to push the climate emergency into the background.”
“It is imperative that the entire renewable energy ecosystem is aligned with the need to reduce demand for fossil fuels. For green hydrogen to achieve scale and therefore competitiveness, a radical change in the size and speed of renewable energy deployment is needed,” he added.
ACCELERATING THE PERMITTING PROCESS
To this end, Siemens Gamesa advocates increasing the volume of renewable energy produced in Europe, for which it is essential to accelerate the permitting process, as well as to establish green hydrogen transport and distribution infrastructure, whether domestically produced or imported, and develop a stable market for its commercialization.
In addition, it calls for innovation in storage solutions to ensure continuity and reliability of supply, and the introduction of a flexible legislative framework to enable coupling between the electricity and gas sectors to balance the demand for electricity and the production of green hydrogen.
The company also advocates the introduction of legislative tools to create a market for green hydrogen generated in the EU, including a cost comparison with fossil fuel-based imports, and to industrialize the production of the electrolyzers needed to supply demand in Europe.
