The European Commission has today (Dec 15) released new proposed framework that will enable the promotion of hydrogen, accelerate its adoption across Europe and create a “Golden Age for Clean Hydrogen”.
Within this new legislative proposal, will create new conditions that will shift the focus of the EU’s industry away from fossil natural gas to renewable and low-carbon gases with hydrogen included within this.
One of the primary aims in achieving this for the EU Commission is to develop a wealthy and diverse market for hydrogen that will provide the correct credentials for the development of the necessary infrastructure in addition to wide-scale investment.
To achieve this, market rules will be introduced in two phases with one set to be introduced before 2030 and the other being after.
This will cover a range of different key areas to promote hydrogen’s introduction including infrastructure, separation of hydrogen production and transport activities, in addition to tariff setting.
To help promote this, a new governance structure in the form of the European Network of Network Operators for Hydrogen (ENNOH) will be created to promote a dedicated hydrogen infrastructure, cross-border coordination and interconnector network construction, and elaborate on specific technical rules.
One proposal suggests that the national network development plans should be based on a joint scenario for electricity, gas and hydrogen.
This will see hydrogen featured as a key part of the future European networks and must be taken into consideration in future developments.
Hydrogen Europe has welcomed the new legislative proposals stating that it will help develop the ‘world’s first’ internal market for hydrogen.
The package provides clear policy incentives for ensuring hydrogen is at the forefront of the EU’s decarbonisation initiatives and it paves well for future developments across the continent.
Jorgo Chatzimarkakis, CEO of Hydrogen Europe, said, “The Golden Age of hydrogen starts today: this can be the legislative proposal that will establish hydrogen as a traded commodity. A lot of work is ahead of us to bring hydrogen to all sectors of the EU economy, developing a functioning hydrogen network, and secure investments in hydrogen projects.”
