Spain is trying to address challenges to be the pioneer in providing hydrogen for sectors requiring hydrogen for industrial processes, thanks to its plenty of sunshine and wind and wide-open countryside to host those power sources.
The eruption of Russia-Ukraine war has triggered a European sense of the importance and urgency decarbonisation and energy sources diversification have. Estimates announced by the International Energy Agency last December puts Spain ahead in hydrogen production race in Europe.
It is expected half of Europe’s capacity growth for hydrogen production will be Spanish in origin.
“Once you build energy infrastructure, it’s going to be there for decades. So it’s really a game where the first one might lock in the situation for many years,” Alejandro Núñez-Jiménez, a green hydrogen policy expert told the Associated Press.
Challenges to conquer
Building green hydrogen supply chain is a challenging process, however. Javier Goñi, Fertiberia’s CEO explained how “green hydrogen technology is not yet delivering a cost-effective final product.” “We need that help from the public authorities to cover the funding gap,” Plaza de Agustín added.
In addition to cost, demand presents another challenge for hydrogen wide production. Goñi of Fertiberia elaborates that “today, there are basically few companies and few sectors of activity that can absorb large amounts of hydrogen.”
It is anticipated demand in Central Europe for green hydrogen would grow in the future. Nevertheless, more attention needs to be devoted to developing the infrastructure needed to transport hydrogen.
Upon expanding their production scale in the future, green hydrogen producers would need solid infrastructure for exportation.
Lastly comes the challenge of natural resources devoted to producing green hydrogen. Large lands and amounts of water are needed to produce hydrogen, making constructing hydrogen plants subject to debate and objection.
“We can discuss at length if using that much water and land to create it is actually environmentally friendly or not,” Pere Virgili said. The mayor of Roda de Bera town was referring to a Danish green hydrogen developer proposal he rejected last year.
