(Brussels) – The industry associations Solar Power Europe (SPE) and Wind Europe have launched a “Renewable Hydrogen Coalition” (RHC). They are supported by Breakthrough Energy, a coalition of several organizations founded by Bill Gates in 2015 that aims to accelerate innovation to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
According to RHC, its aim is to “give a voice to companies and thought leaders” who will help “position Europe as a global leader in renewable hydrogen”. To this end, the associations want to build “a high-level and interdisciplinary network”. This should consist of innovative companies “from the rapidly growing renewable hydrogen community”.
It is said that the coalition will enrich the political debate with concrete proposals for the expansion and market launch of hydrogen from renewable energies. It calls on leaders to “double their research and development efforts while increasing investment to bring new technologies to market more quickly.”
White paper: investments of 700 billion euros
A white paper published by consultancy Material Economics to mark the founding of the RHC concludes that Europe “could commercialize renewable hydrogen faster than current strategies suggest”. The study sees green hydrogen as “a significant opportunity for investments amounting to 550 to 700 billion euros”. This would allow ten percent of Europe's annual CO2 emissions to be avoided, i.e. around 450 to 550 tons.
There is also considerable demand for green hydrogen in the European economy. The white paper puts the demand at 540 terawatt hours (TWh) initially, and even 1.200 to 1.400 TWh in the medium term. To realize this potential, Europe must act “quickly and at scale” in four areas: creation of lead markets (e.g. for environmentally friendly fertilizers and steel), mobilization of massive investments (particularly in renewable energies for a presumed required capacity of 280 gigawatts), acceleration of innovation from early research to mass production and the setting of standards.
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SPE, Wind Europe and Breakthrough Energy founded the RHC / © Wind Europe
