Hydrogen one of the energy carriers of the future

Yesterday's Dutch national investigative TV-program Nieuwsuur questioned the national goals for developing hydrogen as a sustainable energy carrier and the investments required. It was argued that there simply isn't enough green energy available to meet the demand for hydrogen, particularly from industry, while simultaneously meeting the demand for green electricity for other purposes.

This isn't a new discussion, and it makes sense that the Nieuwsuur-program is addressing it. However, we find it disappointing that the full story hasn't been told. Because if you weigh all the arguments, you can only conclude that it's indeed justified to focus on the rapid development of hydrogen as one of the crucial green energy carriers of the future, necessary to have adequate supply of green molecules next to green electrons supply.

First and foremost, all predictions more or less agree on the following scenario: A sustainable energy system of the future will consist partly of electrons (green electricity) and partly of molecules (green hydrogen). In almost all scenarios, the share of molecules will be around 2050% by the year 50. Everyone realizes: you need both. The greening of electrons in the EU is progressing well. Fully green electricity by 2050 should be achievable. However, the greening of molecules is stagnating and remains stuck at a few percent in Europe. We, as part of Europe and as a country, need to pay much more attention to this. Hydrogen is really the only serious large-scale option for this. The question should not be IF we will be using hydrogen, but HOW we will achieve this at a sufficient pace. It's a shame that the Nieuwsuur-reporters didnot highlight this key point more clearly.

The main arguments that were also skipped during the broadcast are:

More focus on wind and solar energy

The broadcast portrays the green energy supply as a static quantity, while that's clearly not the case. The Netherlands is catching up significantly, and we constantly urge that we invest even more in green energy production from wind and solar power. This is possible, if we're willing to develop policies to support it. The observation that we currently produce too little green energy should be an incentive to do more, rather than a reason to accept that producing more is simply difficult.

Import from abroad

Secondly, it was wrongly assumed that all green power we need in the future must come from the Netherlands. This is a far too simplistic view. The energy market is international and always has been. The Netherlands already imports green power from Scandinavia, for example, via landfall in the Northern Netherlands. The Netherlands has traditionally played a crucial role in this market. The supply of green power throughout the North Sea region will grow enormously in the coming decades. As the EU, we will import some of our green power, as we have been doing here for a long time. And that also applies to green hydrogen. In the future, it is expected that we will also be able to import green hydrogen from solar energy from North Africa, the Middle East, and elsewhere.

Demand creates supply

Thirdly, it is stated that if demand exceeds supply, the price will rise. This is considered a negative. However, we mustn't forget that rising prices actually encourage more and more commercial parties to enter the green energy production sector. This is a normal economic mechanism. For example, high demand for green hydrogen contributes to a greater supply of green energy through the market mechanism.

The Netherlands has no choice: we must also focus on the production, transport/storage, and use of hydrogen. In fact, we can make hydrogen our specialty. This presents significant opportunities, including economic ones. It's no wonder that the first European hydrogen region (Hydrogen Valley) is located in the Northern Netherlands region. We applaud the fact that green hydrogen production is being put on the agenda and discussed in the media. It will be one of the pillars of our energy future. But we hope that a more balanced picture will be presented in the future.

Written by Prof. Catrinus Jepma ·Scientific advisor, New Energy Coalition

New Energy Coalition is a growing network and knowledge coalition committed to a smart and successful transition to the sustainable energy system of the future, both in the Netherlands and worldwide. We combine the knowledge, experience, innovation, and drive of businesses, governments, and knowledge institutions.