Bringing H2 to industry: the right infrastructure to unlock decarbonisation

Hydrogen is one of the priority areas identified in the European Green Deal and REPowerEU which outline the path for Europe to reach climate-neutrality by 2050 and ensure energy independence from Russia. Furthermore, the Hydrogen Accelerator sets out a strategy to double the previous EU renewable hydrogen target to 10 million tons of annual domestic production, plus an additional 10 million tons of annual hydrogen imports by 2030, a significant part of which will come as ammonia.

The policy targets reflect the idea that hydrogen will be a catalyst of Europe’s energy transition and one of the strongest candidates for helping hard to abate sectors to decarbonise, such as the European heavy industry. From ceramics and glass to steelmaking and fertilisers, the term 'industry' encompasses a wide variety of consumers, each with specific characteristics and needs.

This panel looked into the hydrogen economy from the perspective of the industrial consumer and answered the fundamental question: how do we get the hydrogen to the final industrial consumer and how is the legislative framework concretely enabling this?

Our panelists discussed and examined the current status of hydrogen infrastructure, as well as the main requirements for industrial consumers to be able to uptake clean hydrogen. In addition, they debated on the role of industrial hubs in kickstarting the market and breaking the chicken and egg dilemma, while touching up on the development of skills needed from both industry and infrastructure companies in order to prepare the workforce of the future. Last but not least, they interacted with the audience on the elements missing to make the legislative framework effective & supportive to speed up the process.

Panellist

• Nicolas Baglin, Decarbonization Funding Manager, Saint-Gobain
• Jorgo Chatzimarkakis, CEO, Hydrogen Europe
• Matthias Deutsch, Programme Lead Hydrogen, Agora Energiewende
• David Herrero Fuentes, COO, Group Fertiberia
• Catharina Sikow-Magny, Drector - Directorate C: Green Transition & Energy System Integration, Directorate-General for Energy of the European Commission
• Thierry Trouvé, CEO, GRTgaz
• Philipp Tschinke, Head of Brussels Office - Public & Regulatory Affairs, Salzgitter AG

Partners

• Hydrogen Europe
• EUROFER
• FertilizersEurope