Brussels ‘saves’ H2Med and makes it easier for nuclear-powered hydrogen to go green

The Community Manager posted two “delegated actions” this Monday that describe it. “Under what conditions can hydrogen, hydrogen-based fuels or other energy carriers be considered renewable fuels of non-biological origin” when produced from “renewable electricity”.

Brussels considers renewable hydrogen produced with hydrogen It classifies 90% renewable electricity and “low-carbon hydrogen” as “derived from non-renewable sources that produce at least 70% fewer greenhouse gas emissions than fossil natural gas over its entire life cycle.”This makes room for nuclear hydrogen.

Provides commission a methodology for calculating emissions in electricity generation, including “upstream emissions, emissions related to the removal of electricity from the grid, its processing and transportation of these fuels to the final consumer”.

If the intensity of electrical energy emission is less than 18 gCO2eq/MJ, There is no need to prove that 70% emissions savings and “electricity drawn from the grid” can be considered fully renewable without being subject to certain criteria.

This opens the door to hydrogen production from atomic energy for both Paris and Stockholm, since atomic energy also has a large weight in Sweden’s electricity generation. The Commission attributes an emission intensity of 4.1 gCO2eq/MJ for Sweden and 19.6 gCO2eq/MJ for France. However, Brussels offers to review the following in particular: Calculation of nuclear energy emissions from data from Eurostat or other accredited sources so that France can recalculate the threshold.

Considering nuclear hydrogen “green”, it is exempt from the “additivity” principle, It aims to avoid increasing production capacity from fossil sources in order to allocate electricity to hydrogen production.

The principle of “addibility” is that electrolyzers (which serve to separate hydrogen from oxygen in water, H2O) “will be linked to new renewable energy generation,” meaning they will not be able to utilize facilities that already exist and whose electricity is planned for other uses.

the purpose is “Hydrogen generation drives increase in the volume of renewable energy supplied to the grid” To prevent hydrogen from cannibalizing renewable electricity, criteria are therefore set “aiming to ensure that renewable hydrogen is produced only when and where sufficient renewable energy is available”.

Generally, Hydrogen projects, which were commissioned before January 1, 2028 and whose electrolyzer production is expected to increase, It will be considered a “transition stage” and these devices will be required not to be older than 36 months.

By 1 January 2030, producers will be able to “match their hydrogen production with their renewable energies with monthly contracts,” said the Community Manager, although Member States may impose stricter rules from 1 July 2027.

The community definition of “green” hydrogen is far from the position advocated by Spain and Germany, which want to ban the production of nuclear hydrogen, called pink hydrogen, and limit the “green” label to renewable electricity source only.

Green hydrogen is currently not commercially viable, but rapid development is expected to reach 10 million tonnes produced on Community soil in 2030, equivalent to 14% of the EU’s electricity production, and 500 would be needed for this. .

The definitions published by the European Commission this Monday are directly related to the Renewable Energy Directive (RED 3), which is currently being negotiated by the Council (countries), the European Parliament and the Commission, which has been suspended at its expense. The Commission is publishing the required technical definitions a year late and will resume this Tuesday. This directive proposes to produce 42% of the hydrogen used in industry by 2030 and 60% by 2035 with renewable energies.