The European Commission has gone on to approve a €998 million investment so as to advance renewable hydrogen production in the Netherlands. This kind of sizable funding will go on to help the country to raise its electrolysis capacity in order to ramp up renewable hydrogen production. EVP in-charge of the competition policy, Margrethe Vestager, said that developing the production of renewable hydrogen is a major element of climate neutrality goals of the EU.
She added that the €998 million Dutch scheme is sure going to help in raising the production of renewable hydrogen throughout the Netherlands as it will be offering support to electrolyser projects across all the sizes while at the same time making sure that any sort of probable competition distortions is kept at large. Moreover, the initiative will help in supplementing the objectives of the EU Hydrogen Strategy and also the European Green Deal.
Raising The Netherland Electrolysis Capacity
This investment goes on to aim to help the construction of a minimum of 200 MW in terms of electrolysis capacity by way of a competitive bidding procedure that is set to conclude in 2024. It is well to be noted that projects having a basic capacity of 0.5 MW happen to be eligible to be a part of it.
Aid is going to be offered as a direct grant that includes an investment that’s upfront, thereby covering almost 80% when it comes to the investment cost and also a variable premium across a period of 5-10 years. It is worth noting that the beneficiaries must go ahead and comply with the criteria set by the EU for renewable fuels of no-biological origin – RFNBOs as mentioned in the delegated acts pertaining to renewable hydrogen.
This initiative is anyways enable the Netherlands reach its 500 MW of electrolyser capacity objective by 2025 and 3-4 GW by the end of the decade. The fact remains that the scheme is anticipated to avoid almost 55 kilotons of CO2 emissions per year and that too till 2030, thereby supporting national as well as EU climate goals.
Renewable Hydrogen Role In The Energy Shift
The point is that the renewable hydrogen production is indeed critical for Europe’s energy shift as it goes on to represent a sustainable and clean alternative to fossil fuels. Hydrogen, produced by way of electrolysis using the renewable source of energy, does not emit any kind of greenhouse gases when made use of, therefore majorly reducing carbon emissions. This goes on to contribute to the climate goals of the EU, which also includes net-zero emissions by 2050.
Not only that, renewable hydrogen goes on to serve as a very versatile energy carrier that is capable of storing as well as transporting energy, and hence elevating the energy security along with grid stability.
It can very well be used across numerous sectors, such as heating and transport, thereby replacing fuels and carbon-intensive processes. Through investing in the renewable energy production spectrum, Europe can very well diminish its dependence on fossil fuels that are imported, hence promoting independence of energy and also leading worldwide endeavours when it comes to fighting climate change.