Trump’s Green Hydrogen Loss Is Everyone Else’s Gain

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Goals of the glowing inexperienced hydrogen business of the longer term are withering on the vine within the US, however they’re nonetheless alive and kicking in different elements of the world. The EU, for instance, is vigorously pursuing new alternatives to import the stuff from different nations. Too dangerous President Trump has blown up an opportunity for US producers to get a chunk of the motion, however them’s the breaks.

Professional tip: Subsequent time, don’t vote for the convicted felon.

Inexperienced Hydrogen Imports Coming To The EU

Inexperienced hydrogen followers have had a troublesome row to hoe. The business remains to be within the early levels, with stubbornly excessive prices, provide chain gaps, shifting public insurance policies, and purchaser resistance among the many components main some stakeholders to tug again or go away the enterprise altogether.

Nonetheless, the nations of Europe are amongst these relying on inexperienced hydrogen to decarbonize heavy industries. The extra attraction of pushing Russia out of the EU vitality import image can also be at work.

Along with home manufacturing, the EU is leaning on abroad markets to feed its inexperienced hydrogen starvation. Among the many alternatives to floor on the CleanTechnica radar, Canada is laying plans to export its inexperienced hydrogen to Europe by means of Belgium, and stakeholders in northern Africa are eyeballing a pipeline to the EU through Italy.

In different information, Bloomberg studies that TotalEnergies is planning to import inexperienced hydrogen from Brazil to produce its petroleum refineries in Europe.

Then there’s Ukraine, which not a member of the EU — but. The nation formally turned a candidate for EU accession in 2022, after Russia’s unprovoked invasion. Ukraine has an ample provide of wind and solar energy, in addition to copious shares of biomass for producing inexperienced hydrogen. Even with the conflict raging into its fourth yr, Ukraine remains to be pursuing plans to export hydrogen to the EU by means of an existing network of pipelines that sprawls round Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Austria, and Germany.

One other Loss For US, One other Achieve For EU

The main inexperienced hydrogen producer Air Liquide precipitated many a tear to shed within the US when it introduced a pullback on its inexperienced hydrogen commitments. The French agency was initially concerned in six new Regional Clean Hydrogen Hubs organized by means of the US Division of Power in 2023.

The Hydrogen Hubs program was funded by the 2021 Bipartisan Infrastructure Legislation with a stipulation to incorporate pure gasoline with carbon seize, in addition to renewables. The regulation is the regulation, however the Republican majority in Congress has refused to carry Trump to any regulation, preferring to dump its tasks onto the judicial department. In consequence, nothing was achieved to cease Trump from suspending this system after he took workplace on January 20.

Air Liquide, for one, noticed the writing on the wall. In February, the corporate let phrase slip that it’s nonetheless dedicated to the two hubs that incorporate natural gas. Nonetheless, the corporate adopted a wait-and-see stance on the opposite 4 hubs, in consideration of the abrupt shift in federal energy policy.

However, that was not the tip of the inexperienced hydrogen story for Air Liquide. Final month the corporate resurfaced with plans for a 200-megawatt electrolyzer project in Rotterdam and a 250-megawattt facility within the Netherlands. Each initiatives are geared toward supplying inexperienced hydrogen for heavy responsibility transportation and different industrial makes use of, along with supplying TotalEnergies’ refineries.

But One other Inexperienced Hydrogen Loss For The US

The equally named agency Air Merchandise additionally packed up and took its enterprise elsewhere after Trump took workplace, although for different causes. On February 24 the Pennsylvania-based firm with a world attain introduced that it’s shelving plans to construct a 35-tonne-per-day liquid inexperienced hydrogen facility in Massena, New York, citing an unfavorable choice concerning tax credit and “slower than expected development of a hydrogen mobility market in the region.”

In the identical announcement, Air Merchandise additionally bailed on a sustainable aviation gas challenge in California and a carbon monoxide challenge in Texas. “The decision to exit these three projects will streamline our backlog and focus Company resources on projects that drive value for Air Products’ shareholders,” the corporate defined.

Amongst these different value-driving initiatives is the corporate’s large inexperienced hydrogen facility in Saudi Arabia, hooked up to the nation’s bold NEOM deliberate metropolis. “The NEOM green hydrogen project in Saudi Arabia is approaching 80 percent completion, with green ammonia production expected to commence at the end of 2026,” Air Merchandise notes.

Saudi Arabia has already lined up Germany as an off-taker for its inexperienced hydrogen. Phrase of the  deal with Germany surfaced in February, and final week it turned official.

The Electrolyzer Angle

In one other attention-grabbing improvement, on April 1 Reuters was among the many information organizations reporting that Belgium tasked its Monarch, King Philippe, to journey to Vietnam with a big entourage for some deal-making in plenty of areas together with inexperienced hydrogen.

The main Belgian electrolyzer firm John Cockerill took a preliminary step in direction of investing in a Vietnamese electrolyzer factory through the journey. “A spokesman for the Belgian firm said the agreements were the first step for a possible investment in a Vietnam factory to manufacture pressurised alkaline water electrolysers,” Reuters reported.

As for why all this abroad outreach is happening, that’s simple. There usually are not sufficient home initiatives within the pipeline to satisfy the EU’s bold inexperienced hydrogen targets.

The US-based vitality transition assume tank RMI ran the numbers and produced a report final month noting as a lot. “Executing this vision has proved difficult, with many early expectations — such as rapid progress, cost reductions, and broad offtake applications — now proven to be overly ambitious or unattainable in the short term,” RMI noticed.

To get again on observe, RMI advises drawing again on the concept of deploying inexperienced hydrogen for “low-impact” makes use of, like heating  buildings or fueling light-duty automobiles, and focus as an alternative on precedence areas. “Public and private investments should be directed to steelmaking, fertilizers, refining, aviation, and shipping; sectors where hydrogen provides the most decarbonization value,” RMI states.

“Allocating resources to low-impact uses like heating and light-duty vehicles represents inefficient use of scarce public funds and risks delaying necessary transitions through electrification and energy efficiency measures,” they emphasize.

“It’s time to retire any lingering misconceptions of hydrogen as a Swiss army knife for economy-wide decarbonization,” they add for good measure.

RMI additionally signifies that the EU must import inexperienced hydrogen to be able to meet its near-term objectives, which it’s doing. Should you can guess how a lot of that imported product will come from the US, drop a notice within the remark thread.

Picture (cropped): The EU is looking for extra inexperienced hydrogen from abroad suppliers, however US producers have been sidelined by a sudden shift in federal vitality coverage (courtesy of US DOE through CleanTechnica archive).