https://www.miningweekly.com

Europe gives another lofty boost to green hydrogen, electrolyser targets

19th May 2022

By: Martin Creamer

Creamer Media Editor

     

Font size: - +

JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – The European Commission this week took firm steps to again boost green hydrogen production and electrolyser manufacture amid sharply rising consumption targets.

The green hydrogen needed is produced by electrolysis using renewable energy sources and the process splits water into hydrogen and oxygen, without any greenhouse gas emission.

The commission’s latest RePowerEU proposals include the raising of its 2030 renewable hydrogen consumption targets for industry to 75%, and doubling the renewable hydrogen target for transport to 5%.

This follows the commission’s amplification in March of its green hydrogen production ambitions that target outputs of:

  • ten-million tons of renewable hydrogen domestically; and
  • another ten-million tons of yearly importation of renewable hydrogen from countries that could include South Africa.

Why South Africa is regarded as being so ideal for green hydrogen production, a field in which many are saying it could become a global player, is that the country ranks in the top ten sunniest countries in the world, placing it well to produce renewable energy from photovoltaics and from wind.

In addition, South Africa has a significant resource and reserve base of platinum group metals, which are used in fuel cell technology and in proton exchange membrane electrolysers. Based on South Africa's experience using the Fischer-Tropsch technology through Sasol, this country possesses extensive grey hydrogen know-how as a producer of 2% of global grey hydrogen production. In the mining sector, it also has large volumes of on-site water required for hydrolysis.

According to industry estimates, reaching the commission’s ten-million-ton domestic target would require an installed electrolyser capacity of up to 100 GW in Europe, with the ten-million tons of green hydrogen production capacity outside Europe potentially involving electrolyser capacity of as much as 300 GW.

The commission is also committed to doubling the next European Union Emissions Trading System’s Innovation Fund call this autumn for large-scale projects, and has made €3-billion available for additional electrolyser manufacture.

Nel CEO Jon André Løkke describes the new RePowerEU plan as being good news for electrolyser manufacturers and an important milestone for the green hydrogen industry in Europe.

“We expect this will contribute to increased investment activities,” Løkke states in a release to Mining Weekly.

Electrolyser manufacturer Nel has previously communicated an ambition to reach 10 GW production capacity in Europe, Asia and the US by 2025, if required by the market. The Norwegian company has commenced site selection for additional production capacity in Europe.

Consequently, the electrolyser production capacity must be scaled-up significantly, says Nel, which recently opened an automated electrolyser manufacturing plant at Herøya, a peninsula in the Norwegian municipality of Porsgrunn.

Edited by Creamer Media Reporter

Comments

The functionality you are trying to access is only available to subscribers.

If you are already a subscriber, you can Login Here.

If you are not a subscriber, you can subscribe now, by selecting one of the below options.

For more information or assistance, please contact us at subscriptions@creamermedia.co.za.

Option 1 (equivalent of R125 a month):

Receive a weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine
(print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
Receive daily email newsletters
Access to full search results
Access archive of magazine back copies
Access to Projects in Progress
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format

Option 2 (equivalent of R375 a month):

All benefits from Option 1
PLUS
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports, in PDF format, on various industrial and mining sectors including Electricity; Water; Energy Transition; Hydrogen; Roads, Rail and Ports; Coal; Gold; Platinum; Battery Metals; etc.

Already a subscriber?

Forgotten your password?

MAGAZINE & ONLINE

SUBSCRIBE

RESEARCH CHANNEL AFRICA

SUBSCRIBE

CORPORATE PACKAGES

CLICK FOR A QUOTATION