This diplomatic attack France is the total for incorporating nuclear-powered hydrogen into the European Union’s clean energy mix. Paris sees this as a priority There is no obstacle in front of the hydrogen produced with the electricity obtained from the reactors., now or in the future, and pressure the European Commission and other member states to achieve it. In the threat of derailing the future European H2Med hydrogen corridor, which is fundamental to Spain as a future hydrogen producer and Germany as a buyer of this energy, it finds something to apply that pressure.
For now, the government of Emmanuel Macron has achieved small partial victories that have not yet been consolidated in this conflict and is now opening another major front to get the renewable energy band for its nuclear-powered hydrogen. The European Commission proposed last month that at least some of the hydrogen produced using energy from nuclear power plants be evaluated together. a label similar to hydrogen produced with renewable energythus supporting the arguments of France, the EU’s largest nuclear power. A position that Spain, among other countries, openly rejects.
The Brussels proposal, which still needs to be adopted by the Twenty-Seven and the European Parliament, is articulated in two mandated laws, a legislative development formula that seeks to provide technical explanations for community regulation. The document submitted by the Commission, which should now be discussed, aims to introduce regulatory details to facilitate the development of hydrogen produced by countries with a relatively low-emissions electricity generation mix; France will also be included due to the large weight. nuclear in the electrical system.
Same war, another war
Paris’ next diplomatic goal is to permanently consolidate the recognition of nuclear hydrogen as green energy. The next revision of the Renewable Energy Directive. The French government is pressing for it. pink hydrogen (generated by nuclear energy) counts for all purposes in renewable distribution targets Mark AB.
For this, Paris tries to be known. Low carbon hydrogen under conditions similar to “green hydrogen” in the future directive known as RED III, The next update of the Renewable Energy Directive (ratified in 2018, RED II currently in force) currently being discussed in Brussels and between member states.
In the context of negotiating the Directive, France also threatened to derail the H2Med project As the Prensa Ibérica group confirmed to EL PERIÓDICO DE ESPAÑA, if their demands are not met, official sources from a European country directly participating in the negotiations emphasize that this is a clear threat under the argument that it is reserved for France. If it can’t develop its own pink hydrogen under the same conditions as countries producing green hydrogen (generated with electricity from renewable power plants), it makes sense to build a major corridor to transport hydrogen in Europe.
Paris has already stipulated its interest in moving forward in the construction of H2Med, given that the authorized actions of the European Commission regarding the labeling of different types of hydrogen are not ratified, and also that the corridor may not only carry hydrogen. From Spain to France, but also in the opposite direction. And now it’s increasing the pressure to negotiate the terms of the next EU renewable energy directive. According to another official source involved in the negotiation, these are different wars within the same war.
Spain, France and Portugal agreed to promote the first major hydrogen corridor in the European Union and later joined Germany in the initiative. A pharaonic project called H2Med that aims to be the key, with planned investments of around 2,500 million euros supporting the renewable hydrogen revolution To gradually replace natural gas in economic sectors where electrification is difficult or impossible. The French government is making the project, which is key to Spain’s desire to become an international hydrogen hub, a trump card to achieve its goals on nuclear hydrogen.
green investments
France and eight other member states (Romania, Bulgaria, Poland, Slovenia, Croatia, Slovakia, Hungary and the Czech Republic) have formed a common front for the future directive that allows to count all low-carbon hydrogen produced by both renewable energy and nuclear power. on national renewable targets
Spainwhich will preside over the Council of Europe in the second half of the year, The United States and Germany are opposed to equating renewable hydrogen and produced hydrogen with nuclear energy. Both want to focus on hydrogen produced by renewable energies such as solar or wind. Each country can produce hydrogen with its own electricity mix, but without equalizing green hydrogen and other non-hydrogen types. All with the goal of reducing emissions by 55% within seven years and being carbon neutral by 2050.
Behind all these discussions is the background of which energy is invested in what conditions and in what way now and in the future. Spain and Germany fear that if the decision to label nuclear hydrogen as clean energy becomes permanent, investors will invest their money in this type of generation rather than just investing their money in renewable energy sources like wind or solar.
But France wants pink hydrogen and green hydrogen to be on equal footing. defending the nuclear power generation industry, which is unique in Europe, especially after the government of former Chancellor Angela Merkel set a date for the demise of German nuclear power plants. It is also an issue with internal political derivatives. In the Germanic country, the Coalition Leader is nervous: the Greens are pressing to shut down the nuclear power plants as soon as possible, the Liberals want to extend the life cycles of the nuclear power plants, and Chancellor Olaf Scholz, a Social Democrat, has had to opt for a solution in Süleymancı. this temporarily extends the use of the three existing facilities.
Paris’ argument is that the carbon emissions of nuclear power are low, and that this is the ultimate goal of tackling climate change. “We think that in the French vision, nuclear power has a role to play in contributing to low-carbon and relatively inexpensive energy,” French ambassador Jean-Michel Casa told this newspaper. “We have already had this discussion with Germany, and Germany has already acknowledged that there is nuclear power in France. Same with Spain. When we have more electricity and gas interconnections,If the molecules come from nuclear or renewable energy they will be checked at the border?”, To add.
The European Commission refused to answer this newspaper’s questions about the French edition on the new RED III directive. They claim that there is an ongoing negotiation and that Brussels cannot evaluate until this negotiation is over. Note, however, that nuclear is not listed as renewable energy in the definition currently proposed under the Renewable Energy Directive.
The commission proposed [con los dos actos delegados propuestos el mes pasado] definition of low-carbon hydrogen, which is is not derived from renewable sources and produces at least 70% less emissions “Under this proposal, the method for defining savings in greenhouse gas emissions from low-carbon fuels will be determined by law on December 31, 2024.”