Don Quichote project, in Halle, Belgium, where a hydrogen fueling station supplies hydrogen to a fleet of vehicles. The station receives energy from renewable energy sources. [European Union, 2020. Source: EC - Audiovisual Service]
Northern Europe is in danger of locking itself into a subsidy-dependent blue hydrogen system where all the risks sit with the governments and all the profits with oil and gas companies.
The European Commission’s hydrogen strategy, published in July 2020, noted that the role of blue hydrogen is to grow the market until green hydrogen from renewables takes over at some unspecified point.
Blue hydrogen is made from natural gas, a fossil fuel, but it deals with emissions by capturing the CO2 and storing it underground. Green hydrogen is obtained from water electrolysis, using renewable power as the feedstock.
The existing market for hydrogen in Europe is around 9 million tonnes per year split between hydrogen for fertiliser production (4 million tonnes), with the same amount used in cracking oil and the remainder for other purposes.
However, far from expanding hydrogen markets, blue projects in the EU focus on mitigating CO2 emissions from existing hydrogen production. For example, the Porthos CCS project in the Port of Rotterdam - link - Mike Parr - link - more like this - link
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