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The Impact of Renewable Hydrogen on the Power System

electrolyser at the intersection of the hydrogen and electricity markets, the associated revenue streams, and possible support mechanisms

Figure: Electrolyser at the intersection of the hydrogen and electricity markets, the associated revenue streams, and possible support mechanisms

Source: Market Design and Regulatory Framework for Viable and Flexible Hydrogen Production Report, June 2025

New ENTSO-E Report: The Impact of Renewable Hydrogen on the Power System

This comprehensive report offers valuable insights into the growing hydrogen market and its interdependence with the electricity system.

✅ Key Takeaways:

📌 System Integration is Key

Electrolysers and hydrogen facilities should be strategically planned, located, and operated in coordination with the power system to maximise system benefits and consumer value.

📌 Location Matters

Whether near renewable energy sources, hydrogen demand centers, or both — the siting and grid connection (on-grid/off-grid) of electrolysers are crucial for infrastructure optimisation, especially as natural gas is phased out.

📌 Smart Regulation & Market Design

Policies defining renewable hydrogen must consider not just the hydrogen sector, but also incentivise investments that support the power system and accelerate decarbonisation.

📌 Flexibility Potential

Electrolysers could provide valuable short-duration flexibility via implicit and explicit demand response, especially as the market matures.

📌 Contributing to Resource Adequacy

Power-to-Hydrogen (P2H2) supports the grid through demand response. Hydrogen-to-Power (H2P) can offer carbon-neutral backup via repurposed gas turbines and capacity mechanisms.

📌 Certification Trade-offs

Hydrogen regulation (e.g., GOs and RFNBO criteria) must find a balance between strict decarbonisation goals and power system needs. To strike a balance, GOs and RFNBO requirements should be designed with flexibility in mind.

➡️ Source: Report on Impact of Renewable Hydrogen on the Power System

Posted By : admin 20 Jun, 2025

3rd German-African Green Hydrogen Forum 2025

Excited to be part of the 3rd German-African Green Hydrogen Forum 2025 as a confirmed keynote speaker!

I will be speaking on the topic: “EU Funding Opportunities for Hydrogen Imports from Africa”

📅 Date: 23–24 September 2025

📍 Hosted by Hochschule Anhalt, in partnership with key actors from academia, policy, and industry.

🔗 Register here

This is a great opportunity to discuss how regulatory and funding mechanisms can unlock the potential of African-EU cooperation on green hydrogen.

Posted By : admin 12 Jun, 2025

Hydrogen in the Reformed EU ETS

Figure: Comparing green (left) and blue hydrogen (right) costs accounting for EU ETS impacts (assumed CO2 price: 80 €/tCO2) based on the optimistic end of near-term cost estimates for 2025 to 2030. The value of free allocations is calculated based on CBAM factor of 100 %, which applies until the end of 2025. No additional subsidies considered here.

Source: Nils Bruch, Falko Ueckerdt, Michèle Knodt (2025): Hydrogen in the Reformed EU ETS – Implications for Competitiveness and Emissions Reductions. Kopernikus-Projekt Ariadne, Potsdam.

Hydrogen in the Reformed EU ETS: What It Means for Competitiveness and Emissions Reductions?

🔹 Key insights:

📌 The EU ETS alone cannot make hydrogen competitive.

Hydrogen production (both renewable and blue) remains significantly more expensive than natural gas — currently 4 to 6 times more costly.
The value of freely allocated ETS allowances does little to close this gap, as illustrated in the picture below with the green part, especially with today’s relatively low CO₂ prices.

📌 To bridge the cost gap and enable a fuel switch from natural gas to low-carbon or renewable hydrogen, CO₂ prices of €300–500/tCO₂ would be necessary.

📌 Switching from blue to green hydrogen would require €2500/tCO₂ if only downstream emissions are priced.

✅ Policy recommendations include:

📌 Expanding the EU ETS to cover upstream emissions for a more accurate climate cost signal.

📌 Gradually lowering the emission intensity threshold (currently 28.2 gCO₂eq/MJ) for low-carbon hydrogen to encourage innovation and deeper decarbonisation.

💡 To use hydrogen for the energy transition, it is essential to go beyond emissions pricing and rethink how to support its competitiveness and climate impact.

Posted By : admin 6 Jun, 2025

IEA World Energy Investment 2025 Report

Figure: Investment in selected low-emissions fuels in selected regions, 2023, 2024 and 2025

Source: World Energy Investment 2025 report, 10th Edition

Investment in liquid biofuels, biogases and hydrogen is set to rise by 30 % in 2025, to nearly $25 billion, building on a 20 % rise in 2024.

📌 Low-emissions fuel spending varies greatly by region:

in 2024, Europe accounted for 60% of global investment in biogases;
the US made up 70% of global investment in biojet kerosene;
China has large investments in hydrogen;
Brazil focuses on liquid biofuels.

📌 Investment in liquid biofuels, biogases and low-emissions hydrogen is set to rise by 30% in 2025 to a record high close to USD 25 billion, building on a 20% rise in 2024.

📌 Policies and regulations remain essential to this growth: mandates, quotas and other forms of policy support have underpinned the high levels of investment in biodiesel and ethanol in the United States and Brazil and in biogases in Europe.

📌 Some hydrogen projects have been cancelled or delayed in the past 12 months, but there remains a pipeline of projects that have received FID, requiring around USD 8 billion of investment in 2025, a 70% increase from the level in 2024.

📌 For hydrogen:

there were a number of setbacks for projects around the world, nonetheless, investment rose by 60% in 2024, and there remains a large pipeline of hydrogen production projects that have received FID.
government support has continued in 2025 globally, for example, in Australia and the EU.
all hydrogen projects that have received FID would require investment almost USD 8 billion and would increase capacity to around 7.5 Mt in 2035.

➡️ Source: World Energy Investment 2025 report, 10th Edition

Posted By : admin 4 Jun, 2025

Regulatory work in PtX projects

Source: Sustainability regulations for PtX projects

Why does regulatory work matter in PtX projects?

Because the success of PtX projects doesn’t just depend on technology — it also depends on navigating a complex and often fragmented regulatory landscape.

The table above highlights how diverse and misaligned regulatory frameworks are across countries.

This complexity becomes even more critical for import-oriented PtX projects, where compliance is needed with both the exporting and importing country’s rules.

✅ Key challenges:

📌 Diverging national regulations

📌 Different GHG emission thresholds

📌 Contradictions between high renewable potential and low renewables deployment in some exporting countries.

These factors can hinder project bankability, delay timelines, or even block market access.

That’s why aligning regulatory frameworks — or at least understanding and navigating their discrepancies — is crucial for enabling global hydrogen and e-fuel markets.

➡️ Source:

Stefan Bube, Katja Lange, Dayana Granford Ruiz, Sebastian Schindler, Marie Plaisir, Martin Kaltschmitt, Jochen Bard, Klemens Ilse.
Sustainability regulations for PtX projects: Scope and impact analysis,
Joule,
Volume 9, Issue 6,
2025,
101966,
ISSN 2542-4351,
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.joule.2025.101966.

Posted By : admin 2 Jun, 2025

Mapping the cost competitiveness of African green hydrogen imports to Europe

Figure: Overview of African green hydrogen projects by country and end use

Source: Mapping the cost competitiveness of African green hydrogen imports to Europe

📃 Article “Mapping the cost competitiveness of African green hydrogen imports to Europe” was published by researchers of the Technical University of Munich (TUM), the University of Oxford and ETH Zurich.

✅ The Key Findings:

📌The research covers:

all projects planned to be operational by 2030.
the analysis of African countries with port access.
31 countries, except Somalia and Libya, were excluded due to political instability and small island states.

📌 Overview of African green hydrogen projects:

34 projects are found across 7 countries;
89% of projects are either at concept or feasibility stages;
2 of the projects have reached a financial investment decision and are under construction, and only one small-scale project (that is, 3.5 MW) in South Africa is operational;
From 3.5 MW to 6.9 GW is planned project sizes;
74% of planned electrolyser capacity is intended for ammonia (NH3) production

📌 Levelized cost of hydrogen (LCOH):

In a high interest scenarios 1 and 2, least costs for green H2 exported from Africa are €4.9 kg_H2⁻¹ without policy support and €3.8 kg_H2⁻¹ when fully de-risked by European governments.
In a low interest scenarios, the costs come down to €4.2 kg_H2⁻¹ and €3.2 kg_H2⁻¹, respectively.
no location competitive with the first round of auction results by the European Hydrogen Bank, which yielded a lowest bid of €2.8 kg_H2⁻¹ in Spain.

📌 Challenges:

many low-cost locations are in regions that are either politically contested or encounter relatively regular flares of armed conflict.
the size of the planned investments relative to the GDP raises questions on feasibility. This situation is concerning as many African countries face massive foreign debt burdens.
whereas wind resources are critical to low-cost green H2 production, local expertise to install this wind capacity may be insufficient.
some low-cost locations, such as those near the Red Sea or the river Nile in Egypt, may also face challenges of water insecurity potentially disrupting consistent production.

➡️ Source: Egli, F., Schneider, F., Leonard, A. et al. Mapping the cost competitiveness of African green hydrogen imports to Europe. Nat Energy (2025).

Posted By : admin 31 May, 2025

ICAO dashboard update

Source: ICAO web site

✈️ The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) updated the dashboard with publicly-available information on sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) offtake agreements.

📌 This dashboard covers various locations worldwide.

📌 Volumes refer to neat SAF; in case of blended SAF announcements the volumes refer to the fraction of SAF in the blend.

➡️ Source: ICAO web site. Offtake Agreements

Posted By : admin 29 May, 2025

EU Startup and Scaleup Strategy

On 28 May 2025, the European Commission has launched the EU Startup and Scaleup Strategy, to make Europe a great place to start and grow global technology-driven companies.

✅ The EU Startup and Scaleup Strategy aims to make Europe the best place in the world to launch and grow global technology-driven companies, including deep tech companies. This is crucial for strategic technologies, such as for example cleantech and energy (including nuclear technology).

☑️ The key needs of startups and scaleups:

📌 Fostering innovation-friendly environment:

Startups and scaleups need less fragmentation, fewer administrative burdens, as well as rules that are simpler and more supportive across the Single Market.
a European 28th regime will be proposed to simplify rules and reduce the cost of failure by addressing critical aspects in areas like insolvency, labour and tax law.
The European Business Wallet will enable seamless digital interactions with public administrations across the EU through a unified digital identity for all economic operators.
The forthcoming European Innovation Act will further support innovation by promoting regulatory sandboxes.

📌 Driving better financing:

The Savings and Investments Union initiative will be key to unlocking more financing and investment opportunities in the EU.
The Strategy aims to expand and simplify the European Innovation Council, deploy a Scaleup Europe Fund to help bridge the financing gap of deep tech scale-up companies, and develop a voluntary European Innovation Investment Pact to mobilise large institutional investors to invest in EU funds, venture capital funds and unlisted scaleups.

📌 Supporting market uptake and expansion:

The Strategy introduces a Lab to Unicorn initiative, which includes the European Startup and Scaleup Hubs.

📌 Attracting and retaining top talent:

The Strategy introduces the Blue Carpet initiative, notably focusing on entrepreneurial education, tax-related aspects of employee stock options and cross-border employment.
The Blue Card Directive will be promoted to put in place a fast-track schemes for non-EU founders.

📌 Facilitating access to infrastructure, networks and service:

The Strategy proposes to simplify and harmonise diverging access and contractual conditions for startups and scaleups to technology and research infrastructures through a Charter of Access for industrial users.

Illustration of the startup double valley of death

Number of unicorn companies as of January 2025

➡️ Source: Commission launches ambitious Strategy to make Europe a startup and scaleup powerhouse

Posted By : admin 26 May, 2025

National Hydrogen Strategy in France

On April 10, 2025, the Government of France announced the update of the National Hydrogen Strategy.

📃 The full text of the updated strategy is available via this link.

✅ Key Changes and Measures:

📌 Electrolysis installation targets in the region with up to 4.5 GW targeted for 2030 and 8 GW installed in 2035;

📌 Mastery of all hydrogen equipment and technologies throughout the value chain;

📌 The deployment in France of low-carbon hydrogen transport infrastructures within hydrogen hubs;

📌 Ensuring that the necessary framework conditions are in place for the development of the French hydrogen industry, particularly in terms of access to land, procedural deadlines, the development of a comprehensive, clear and stable regulatory framework, and electrical connections;

📌 A €4 billion support mechanism for low-carbon hydrogen production to ensure that low-carbon hydrogen is competitive with fossil hydrogen over 15 years;

📌 The relaunch of the ‘IDH2 Hydrogen Technology Building Blocks’ call for projects, designed to support the development of certain critical elements of hydrogen technologies;

📌 A new call for projects for the deployment of hydrogen-powered commercial vehicles, to enable the technological development of fuel cells and tanks;

📌 Measures to support studies of synthetic fuel projects in order to bring about, by 2030, the first industrial production of synthetic fuels for aviation and maritime sectors.

➡️ Source: Le Gouvernement actualise la Stratégie nationale de l’hydrogène décarboné

Posted By : admin 24 May, 2025

New pieces of secondary legislation related to the Net-Zero Industry Act

On 23 May 2025, the European Commission adopted new pieces of secondary legislation and a communication relating to the Net-Zero Industry Act (NZIA).

📃 Adopted Acts:

✅ Communication providing updated information to determine the shares of the EU supply of final products and their main specific components originating in different third countries under NZIA

provides information on where the EU’s supply of net-zero technologies comes from, highlighting third country dependencies for specific technologies. This information enables the application of the ‘resilience’ non-price criterion in public procurement, renewable energy auctions, and other public interventions.
helps Member States in evaluating net-zero technology manufacturing projects eligible for strategic project status.

✅ Implementing Regulation specifying the pre-qualification and award criteria for auctions for the deployment of energy from renewable sources

These criteria include responsible business conduct, cybersecurity, and sustainability and resilience contribution.
Starting on 30 December 2025, the new rules must be applied to 30% of auction volumes (or 6 GW per year per EU country).

✅ Delegated Regulation regarding the identification of sub-categories within net-zero technologies and the list of specific components used for those technologies

replaces Annex with list of final products and specific components in NZIA.

✅ Implementing Regulation regarding the list of net-zero technology final products and their main specific components for the purposes of assessing the contribution to resilience

includes Annex with list of net-zero technology final products and their main specific components for the purposes of assessing the contribution to resilience.

✅ Implementing Decision adopting guidelines for the implementation of certain selection criteria for net-zero strategic projects

ensures a consistent selection process across Member States, through guidance on the applicable criteria for that strategic project selection.

☑️ What next?

📌 For the Delegated Regulation, following publication, the European Parliament and the Council have a 2-month scrutiny period (extendable by a further 2 months if requested), during which they can object to this act.

📌 However, there is no scrutiny period for the Implementing Regulations adopted on 23 May 2025.

➡️ Source: Net-Zero Industry Act secondary legislation

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