Policy & Socio-Economics

On this episode of Everything About Hydrogen the team is joined by Sam French Business Development Director at JM who spent some time speaking with us about the transition from grey hydrogen to low-carbon generation technologies and what steps the UK - and countries all over the world - to use hydrogen as part of the pathway to a sustainable energy future.

The podcast can be found on their website

Greenhouse gas emissions need to be drastically reduced to mitigate the environmental impacts caused by climate change and to lead to a transformation of the European energy system. A model landscape consisting of four final energy consumption sector models with high spatial (NUTS-3) and temporal (hourly) resolution and the multi-energy system model ISAaR is extended and applied to investigate the transformation pathway of the European energy sector in the deep emission mitigation scenario solidEU. The solidEU scenario describes not only the techno-economic but also the socio-political contexts and it includes the EU27 + UK Norway and Switzerland. The scenario analysis shows that volatile renewable energy sources (vRES) dominate the energy system in 2050. In addition the share of flexible sector coupling technologies increases to balance electricity generation from vRES. Seasonal differences are balanced by hydrogen storage with a seasonal storage profile. The deployment rates of vRES in solidEU show that a fast profound energy transition is necessary to achieve European climate protection goals.

The Institution of Gas Engineers & Managers (IGEM) is the UK’s Professional Engineering Institution supporting individuals and businesses working in the global gas industry. IGEM was founded in 1863 with the purpose of advancing the science and relevant knowledge of gas engineering for the benefit of the public.



As a not-for-profit independent organisation IGEM acts as a trusted source of technical information guidance and services for the gas sector. In today’s net zero context IGEM is focused on engineering a sustainable gas future – we do this by:

• Helping our members achieve and uphold the highest standards of professional competence to ensure the safety of the public
• Supporting our members in achieving their career goals by providing high quality products services and personal and professional development opportunities 
• Acting as the voice of the gas industry when working with stakeholders to develop and improve gas policy. 

This document outlines the current UK gas policy landscape our stance and what contribution we are making as an organisation.

The Flexibility in Great Britain project analysed the system-level value of deploying flexibility across the heat transport industry and power sectors in Great Britain to provide a robust evidence-base on the role and value of flexibility in a net zero system.

Overview

Findings from this groundbreaking analysis of the future net zero energy system in Great Britain are expected to have profound implications for policymakers households and the wider energy sector across Great Britain.

Key findings include:

• Embedding greater flexibility across the entire energy system will reduce the cost of achieving net zero for all consumers while assuring energy security.
• Investing in flexibility is a no-regrets decision as it has the potential to deliver material net savings of up to £16.7bn per annum across all scenarios analysed in 2050.
• A more flexible system will accelerate the benefits of decarbonisation supported by decentralisation and digitalisation.
• To maximise the benefits of flexibility households and businesses should play an active role in the development and operation of the country’s future energy system as energy use for transport heat and appliances becomes more integrated.
• Policymakers should preserve existing flexibility options and act now to maximise future flexibility such as by building it into ‘smart’ appliances or building standards.

Read the Full Report here on the Carbon Trust Website

View the interactive analysis here at the Carbon Trust Website

Watch an accompanying video here at the Carbon Trust Youtube channel

Because of differences in irradiation levels it could be more efficient to produce solar electricity and hydrogen in North Africa and import these energy carriers to Europe rather than generating them at higher costs domestically in Europe. From a global climate change mitigation point of view exploiting such efficiencies can be profitable since they reduce overall renewable electricity capacity requirements. Yet the construction of this capacity in North Africa would imply costs associated with the infrastructure needed to transport electricity and hydrogen. The ensuing geopolitical dependencies may also raise energy security concerns. With the integrated assessment model TIAM-ECN we quantify the trade-off between costs and benefits emanating from establishing import-export links between Europe and North Africa for electricity and hydrogen. We show that for Europe a net price may have to be paid for exploiting such interlinkages even while they reduce the domestic investments for renewable electricity capacity needed to implement the EU’s Green Deal. For North African countries the potential net benefits thanks to trade revenues may build up to 50 billion €/yr in 2050. Despite fears over costs and security Europe should seriously consider an energy partnership with North Africa because trade revenues are likely to lead to positive employment income and stability effects in North Africa. Europe can indirectly benefit from such impacts.

2020 has been a year for the history books! Some good most of it not so good; but 2020 has been a boom year for the future of hydrogen technologies. Patrick Chris and Andrew do their level best on this episode to talk about all the stories and the highlights of 2020 in under 50 minutes. Have a listen and let us know if we missed anything in our penultimate episode of 2020!

The podcast can be found on their website

Decentralisation and sector coupling are becoming increasingly crucial for the decarbonisation of the energy system. Resources such as waste and water have high energy recovery potential and are required as inputs for various conversion technologies; however waste and water have not yet been considered in sector coupling approaches but only in separate examinations. In this work an open-source sector coupling optimisation model considering all of these resources and their utilisation is developed and applied in a test-bed in an Israeli city. Our investigations include an impact assessment of energy recovery and resource utilisation in the transition to a hydrogen economy with regard to the inclusion of greywater and consideration of emissions. Additionally sensitivity analyses are performed in order to assess the complexity level of energy recovery. The results demonstrate that waste and water energy recovery can provide high contributions to energy generation. Furthermore greywater use can be vital to cover the water demands in scarcity periods thus saving potable water and enabling the use of technology. Regarding the transition to hydrogen technologies resource energy recovery and management have an even higher effect than in the original setup. However without appropriate resource management a reduction in emissions cannot be achieved. Furthermore the sensitivity analyses indicate the existence of complex relationships between energy recovery technologies and other energy system operations.

As a result of particular locations of large-scale energy producers and increases in energy demand transporting energy has become one of the key challenges of energy supply. For a long-distance ocean transportation transfer of energy carriers via ocean tankers is considered as a decent solution compared to pipelines. Due to cryogenic temperatures of energy carriers heat leaks into storage tanks of these carriers causes a problem called boil-off gas (BOG). BOG losses reduce the quantity of energy carriers which affects their economic value. Therefore this study proposes to examine the effects of BOG economically in production and transportation phases of potential energy carriers produced from natural gas namely; liquefied natural gas (LNG) dimethyl-ether (DME) methanol liquid ammonia (NH3) and liquid hydrogen (H2). Mathematical approach is used to calculate production and transportation costs of these energy carriers and to account for BOG as a unit cost within the total cost. The results of this study show that transportation costs of LNG liquid ammonia methanol DME and liquid hydrogen from natural gas accounting for BOG are 0.74 $/GJ 1.09 $/GJ 0.68 $/GJ 0.53 $/GJ and 3.24 $/GJ respectively. DME and methanol can be more economic compared to LNG to transport the energy of natural gas for the same ship capacity. Including social cost of carbon (SCC) within the total cost of transporting the energy of natural gas the transportation cost of liquid ammonia is 1.11 $/GJ whereas LNG transportation cost rises significantly to 1.68 $/GJ at SCC of 137 $/t CO2 eq. Consequently liquid ammonia becomes economically favored compared to LNG. Transportation cost of methanol (0.70 $/GJ) and DME (0.55 $/GJ) are also lower than LNG however liquid hydrogen transportation cost (3.24 $/GJ) is still the highest even though the increment of the cost is about 0.1% as SCC included within the transportation cost.

This paper discusses the potential of green hydrogen production in a case study of a Slovenian hydro power plant. To assess the feasibility and eligibility of hydrogen production at the power plant we present an overview of current hydrogen prices and the costs of the power-to-gas system for green hydrogen production. After defining the production cost for hydrogen at the case study hydro power plant we elaborate on the profitability of hydrogen production over electricity. As hydrogen can be used as a sustainable energy vector in industry heating mobility and the electro energetic sectors we discuss the current competitiveness of hydrogen in the heating and transport sectors. Considering the current prices of different fuels it is shown that hydrogen can be competitive in the transport sector if it is unencumbered by various environmental taxes. The second part of the paper deals with hydrogen production in the context of secondary control ancillary service provided by a case study power plant. Namely hydrogen can be produced during the time period when there is no demand for extra electric power within a secondary control ancillary service and thus the economics of power plant operation can be improved.

The world has relied on fossil fuel energy for a long time producing many adverse effects. Long-term fossil fuel dependency has increased carbon emissions and accelerated climate change. In addition fossil fuels are also depleting and will soon be very costly. Moreover the expensive national electricity grid has yet to reach rural areas and will be cut off in inundation areas. As such alternative and carbon-free hydrogen fuel cell energy is highly recommended as it solves these problems. The reviews find that (i) compared to renewable energy such as solar biomass and hydropower a fuel cell does not require expensive transmission through an energy grid and is carbon-free and hence it is a faster agent to decelerate climate change; (ii) fuel cell technologies have reached an optimum level due to the high-efficiency production of energy and they are environmentally friendly; (iii) the absence of a policy on hydrogen fuel cells will hinder investment from private companies as they are not adequately regulated. It is thus recommended that countries embarking on hydrogen fuel cell development have a specific policy in place to allow the government to fund and regulate hydrogen fuel cells in the energy generation mix. This is essential as it provides the basis for alternative energy governance development and management of a country.

This paper aims to assess the impact of EU energy and climate policy as a response to Russia’s war in Ukraine on the EU decarbonization enterprise. It showcases how the Russian invasion was a crunch point that forced the EU to abandon its liberal market dogma and embrace in practice an open strategic autonomy approach. This led to an updated energy and climate policy with significant changes underpinning its main pillars interdependence diversification and the focus of market regulation and build-up. The reversal of enforced interdependence with Russia and the legislative barrage to support and build-up a domestic clean energy market unlocks significant emission reduction potential with measures targeting energy efficiency solar wind and hydrogen development; an urban renewable revolution and electricity and carbon market reforms standing out. Such positive decarbonization effects however are weakened by source and fuel diversification moves that extend to coal and shale gas especially when leading to an infrastructure build-up and locking-in gas use in the mid-term. Despite these caveats the analysis overall vindicates the hypothesis that geopolitics constitutes a facilitator and accelerator of EU energy transition.

Green ammonia production as an important application for propelling the upcoming hydrogen economy has not been paid much attention by China the world's largest ammonia producer. As a result related studies are limited. This paper explores potential supply chain design and planning strategies of green ammonia production in the next decade of China with a case study in Inner Mongolia. A hybrid optimization-based simulation approach is applied considering traditional optimization approaches are insufficient to address uncertainties and dynamics in a long-term energy transition. Results show that the production cost of green ammonia will be at least twice that of the current level due to higher costs of hydrogen supply. Production accounts for the largest share of the total expense of green hydrogen (~80 %). The decline of electricity and electrolyser prices are key in driving down the overall costs. In addition by-product oxygen is also considered in the model to assess its economic benefits. We found that by-product oxygen sales could partly reduce the total expense of green hydrogen (~12 % at a price of USD 85/t) but it also should be noted that the volatile price of oxygen may pose uncertainties and risks to the effectiveness of the offset. Since the case study may represent the favourable conditions in China due to the abundant renewable energy resources and large-scale ammonia industry in this region we propose to take a moderate step towards green ammonia production and policies should be focused on reducing the electricity price and capital investments in green hydrogen production. We assume the findings and implications are informative to planning future green ammonia production in China.

Decarbonising economies and improving environment can be enhanced through circular economy energy and environmental systems integrating electricity water and gas utilities. Hydrogen production can facilitate intermittent renewable electricity through reduced curtailment of electricity in periods of over production. Positioning an electrolyser at a wastewater treatment plant with existing sludge digesters offers significant advantages over stand-alone facilities. This paper proposes co-locating electrolysis and biological methanation technologies at a wastewater treatment plant. Electrolysis can produce oxygen for use in pure or enhanced oxygen aeration offering a 40% reduction in emissions and power demand at the treatment facility. The hydrogen may be used in a novel biological methanation system upgrading carbon dioxide (CO2)in biogas from sludge digestion yielding a 54% increase in biomethane production. A 10MW electrolyser operating at 80% capacity would be capable of supplying the oxygen demand for a 426400 population equivalent wastewater treatment plant producing 8500 tDS/a of sludge. Digesting the sludge could generate 1409000 m 3 CH4/a and 776000 m 3 CO2/a. Upgrading the CO2 to methane would consume 22.2% of the electrolyser generated hydrogen and capture 1.534 ktCO2e/a. Hydrogen and methane are viable advanced transport fuels that can be utilised in decarbonising heavy transport. In the proposed circular economy energy and environment system sufficient fuel would be generated annually for 94 compressed biomethane gas (CBG) heavy goods vehicles (HGV) and 296 compressed hydrogen gas fuel cell (CHG) HGVs. Replacement of the equivalent number of diesel HGVs would offset approximately 16.1 ktCO2e/a.

The feasibility of the global energy transition may rest on the ability of nations to harness hydrogen's potential for cross-sectoral decarbonization. In countries historically reliant on natural gas for domestic heating and cooking such as the UK hydrogen may prove critical to meeting net-zero targets and strengthening energy security. In response the UK government is targeting industrial decarbonization via hydrogen with parallel interest in deploying hydrogen-fueled appliances for businesses and homes. However prospective hydrogen futures and especially the domestic hydrogen transition face multiple barriers which reflect the cross-sectoral dynamics of achieving economies of scale and social acceptance. Addressing these challenges calls for a deep understanding of socio-technical factors across different scales of the hydrogen economy. In response this paper develops a socio-technical systems framework for overcoming barriers to the domestic transition which is applied to the UK context. The paper demonstrates that future strategies should account for interactions between political techno-economic technical market and social dimensions of the hydrogen transition. In parallel to techno-economic feasibility the right policies will be needed to create an even playing field for green hydrogen technologies while also supporting stakeholder symbiosis and consumer buy-in. Future studies should grapple with how an effective repurposing of pipelines policies and public perceptions can be aligned to accelerate the development of the hydrogen economy with maximum net benefits for society and the environment.

This report analyses five case study reports in-depth across five EU countries as part of a broader analytical and critical exercise. This analytical work seeks to contribute to the development of new models for regional and local authorities aiming to boost support for Green Transition of their economies through smarter innovation policies using the smart specialisation (S3) approach. The work covered five regions from across the European Union representing a diversity of approaches to using S3 for Green Transition: the Basque Country in Spain the Centro region in Portugal the region of East and North Finland the region of Western Macedonia in Greece and the region of West Netherlands. The case studies included in this report consists of three sections on (i) Profile of the region and key development challenges; (ii) Innovation strategies and policies for green transition: incorporating societal challenges; (iii) Understanding and monitoring innovationled green transition. Drawing together the different elements presented the conclusion provides a summary overview of the case and the authors’ opinion on it.

Policymakers and global energy models are increasingly looking towards hydrogen as an enabling energy carrier to decarbonize hard-to-abate sectors (projecting growth in hydrogen consumption in the magnitude of hundreds of megatons). Combining scenarios from global energy models and life cycle impacts of different hydrogen production technologies the results of this work show that the life cycle emissions from proposed configurations of the hydrogen economy would lead to climate overshoot of at least 5.4–8.1x of the defined “safe” space for greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 and the cumulative consumption of 8–12% of the remaining carbon budget. This work suggests a need for a science-based definition of “clean” hydrogen agnostic of technology and compatible with a “safe” development of the hydrogen economy. Such a definition would deem blue hydrogen environmentally unviable by 2025–2035. The prolific use of green hydrogen is also problematic however due to the requirement of a significant amount of renewable energy and the associated embedded energy land and material impacts. These results suggest that demand-side solutions should be further considered as the large-scale transition to hydrogen which represents a “clean” energy shift may still not be sufficient to lead humanity into a “safe” space.

Carbon dioxide is an important medium of the global carbon cycle and has the dual properties of realizing the conversion of organic matter in the ecosystem and causing the greenhouse effect. The fixed or available carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is defined as “gray carbon” while the carbon dioxide that cannot be fixed or used and remains in the atmosphere is called “black carbon”. Carbon neutral is the consensus of human development but its implementation still faces many challenges in politics resources technology market and energy structure etc. It is proposed that carbon replacement carbon emission reduction carbon sequestration and carbon cycle are the four main approaches to achieve carbon neutral among which carbon replacement is the backbone. New energy has become the leading role of the third energy conversion and will dominate carbon neutral in the future. Nowadays solar energy wind energy hydropower nuclear energy and hydrogen energy are the main forces of new energy helping the power sector to achieve low carbon emissions. “Green hydrogen” is the reserve force of new energy helping further reduce carbon emissions in industrial and transportation fields. Artificial carbon conversion technology is a bridge connecting new energy and fossil energy effectively reducing the carbon emissions of fossil energy. It is predicted that the peak value of China’s carbon dioxide emissions will reach 110108 t in 2030. The study predicts that China's carbon emissions will drop to 22108 t 33108 t and 44108 t respectively in 2060 according to three scenarios of high medium and low levels. To realize carbon neutral in China seven implementation suggestions have been put forward to build a new “three small and one large” energy structure in China and promote the realization of China's energy independence strategy.

Background: The widespread use of sustainable energy technologies is a key element in the transformation of the energy system from fossil-based to zero-carbon. In line with this technology acceptance is of great importance as resistance from the public can slow down or hinder the construction of energy technology projects. The current study assesses the social acceptance of three energy technologies relevant for the German energy transition: stationary battery storage biofuel production plants and hydrogen fuel station. Methods: An online survey was conducted to examine the public’s general and local acceptance of energy technologies. Explored factors included general and local acceptance public concerns trust in relevant stakeholders and attitudes towards financial support. Results: The results indicate that general acceptance for all technologies is slightly higher than local acceptance. In addition we discuss which public concerns exist with regard to the respective technologies and how they are more strongly associated with local than general acceptance. Further we show that trust in stakeholders and attitudes towards fnancial support is relatively high across the technologies discussed. Conclusions: Taken together the study provides evidence for the existence of a “general–local” gap despite measuring general and local acceptance at the same level of specifcity using a public sample. In addition the collected data can provide stakeholders with an overview of worries that might need to be addressed when planning to implement a certain energy project.

On this episode of Everything About Hydrogen we are speaking with Nashwa Al Rawahy Director of HMR Environmental Consultants based in Muscat Oman with regional offices in the United Arab Emirates.

We are excited to have an expert like Nashwa join us to discuss environmental and social impact studies their value to the communities and projects and the importance of building long term In Country Value (ICV).

The podcast can be found on their website.

Renewable energy supply is essential for carbon neutrality; however technologies aiming to optimally utilize renewable energy sources remain insufficient. Seasonal variability in renewable energy is a key issue which many studies have attempted to overcome through operating systems and energy storage. Currently hydrogen is the only technology that can solve this seasonal storage problem. In this study the amount of hydrogen required to circumvent the seasonal variability in renewable energy supply in Korea was quantified. Spatiotemporal analysis was conducted using renewable energy resource maps and power loads. It was predicted that 50% of the total power demand in the future will be met using solar and wind power and a scenario was established based on the solar-to-wind ratio. It was found that the required hydrogen production differed by approximately four-times depending on the scenarios highlighting the importance of supplying renewable energy at an appropriate ratio. Spatially wind power was observed to be unsuitable for the physical transport of hydrogen because it has a high potential at mountain peaks and islands. The results of this study are expected to aid future hydrogen research and solve renewable energy variability problems.

In this episode titled "The Commission's support to the hydrogen ecosystem" our CEO Jorgo Chatzimarkakis discusses with Rosalinde van der Vlies Clean Planet Director DG RTD - European Commission. Starting off on how Rosalinde joined the Commission the two speakers discuss the Commission's support in developing a hydrogen ecosystem also in light of its participation in the Clean Hydrogen Partnership and the implications arising from the REPowerEU.

The possibility of producing hydrogen as an energy carrier or raw material through electrolysis of water so-called green hydrogen has been on the table as a technological option for a long time. However low conversion efficiency and a dubious climate balance have stood in the way of large-scale application ever since. Within the last three to four years however this view has changed significantly. In addition to technological improvements the increasing speed of the expansion of volatile renewable energies in Europe has also contributed to this since in principle a nearly climate-neutral utilisation of excess generation is possible through the use of hydrogen as an energy carrier in electrolysis. In addition hydrogen or products derived from it can be used in a variety of ways as a final energy carrier in all energy-intensive activities: industry heating and transport. For this reason green hydrogen production could play a key role in interconnecting all energy consuming sectors (sector coupling) a long-term goal necessary for achieving the decarbonisation of the European economy.

The existing combustion-centered energy mix in Malaysia has shown that replacing fossil fuels with zero-carbon alternative fuels could be a better approach to achieve the reduction of the carbon footprint of the power generation industry. In this study the potential of zero-carbon alternative fuels generated from renewable sources such as green hydrogen and green ammonia was addressed in terms of the production transport storage and utilization in Malaysia’s thermal power plants. The updated developments associated to green hydrogen and green ammonia across the globe have also been reviewed to support the existing potential in Malaysia. Though green hydrogen and green ammonia are hardly commercialized in Malaysia for the time being numerous potentialities have been identified in utilizing these fuels to achieve the zero-carbon power generation market in Malaysia. The vast and strategic location of natural gas network in Malaysia has the potential to deliver green hydrogen with minimal retrofitting required. Moreover there are active participation of Malaysia’s academic institutions in the development of water electrolysis that is the core process to convert the electricity from renewables plant into hydrogen. Malaysia also has the capacity to use its abundance of depleted gas reservoirs for the storage of green hydrogen. A large number of GT plants in Malaysia would definitely have the potential to utilize hydrogen co-firing with natural gas to minimize the amount of carbon dioxide (CO2) released. The significant number of ammonia production plants in Malaysia could provide a surplus of ammonia to be used as an alternative fuel for power plants. With regard to the energy policy in Malaysia positive acceptance of the implementation of renewable energy has been shown with the introduction of various energy policies aimed at promoting the incorporation of renewables into the energy mix. However there is still inadequate support for the implementation of alternative zero-carbon fuels in Malaysia.

Recent drastic increases in natural gas prices have brought into sharp focus the inherent tensions between net zero transitions energy security and affordability. We investigate the impact of different fuel prices on the energy system transition explicitly accounting for the increasingly coupled power and heating sectors and also incorporate the emerging hydrogen sector. The aim is to identify low-regret decisions and optimal energy system transitions for different fuel prices. We observe that the evolution of the heating sector is highly sensitive to the gas price whereas the composition of the power sector is not qualitatively impacted by gas prices. We also observe that bioenergy plays an important role in the energy system transition and the balance between gas price and biomass prices determines the optimal technology portfolios. The future evolution of the prices of these two resources is highly uncertain and future energy systems must be resilient to these uncertainties.

This net zero investment roadmap summarises government’s hydrogen policies and available investment opportunities.

On this episode of Everything About Hydrogen we have Daria Nochevnik the Director of Policy and Partnerships for Hydrogen Council.

The podcast can be found on their website.

David Ledesma discusses with Alex Barnes the European Commission’s decision to make hydrogen a key part of its decarbonisation strategy. The 2022 REPowerEU Strategy set a target of 20MT consumption of renewable hydrogen by 2030. The Commission is keen to promote a single European market in hydrogen similar to the current one for natural gas. To this end it has published proposals on the regulation of future European hydrogen infrastructure (pipelines storage facilities and import terminals). The EU Council (representing Member States) and the EU Parliament are finalising their amendments to the Commission proposals prior to ‘trilogue’ negotiations and final agreement later this year. The OIES’s paper ‘The EU Hydrogen and Gas Decarbonisation Package: help or hindrance for the development of a European hydrogen market?’ published in March 2023 examines the EU Commission proposals and their suitability for a developing hydrogen market.

The podcast can be found on their website.

Hydrogen can be recognized as the most plausible fuel for promoting a green environment. Worldwide developed and developing countries have established their hydrogen research investment and policy frameworks. This analysis of 610 peer-reviewed journal articles from the last 50 years provides quantitative and impartial insight into the hydrogen economy. By 2030 academics and business professionals believe that hydrogen will complement other renewable energy (RE) sources in the energy revolution. This study conducts an integrative review by employing software such as Bibliometrix R-tool and VOSviewer on socio-economic consequences of hydrogen energy literature derived from the Scopus database. We observed that most research focuses on multidisciplinary concerns such as generation storage transportation application feasibility and policy development. We also present the conceptual framework derived from in-depth literature analysis as well as the interlinkage of concepts themes and aggregate dimensions to highlight research hotspots and emerging patterns. In the future factors such as green hydrogen generation hydrogen permeation and leakage management efficient storage risk assessment studies blending and techno-economic feasibility shall play a critical role in the socio-economic aspects of hydrogen energy research.  

This paper evaluates the potential of grid services in France Italy Norway and Spain to provide an alternative income for electrolysers producing hydrogen from wind power. Grid services are simulated with each country's data for 2017 for energy prices grid services and wind power profiles from relevant wind parks. A novel metric is presented the value of curtailed hydrogen which is independent from several highly uncertain parameters such as electrolyser cost or hydrogen market price. Results indicate that grid services can monetise the unused spare capacity of electrolyser plants improving their economy in the critical deployment phase. For most countries up-regulation yields a value of curtailed hydrogen above 6 V/kg over 3 times higher than the EU's 2030 price target (without incentives). However countries with large hydro power resources such as Norway yield far lower results below 2 V/kg. The value of curtailed hydrogen also decreases with hydrogen production corresponding to the cases of symmetric and down-regulation.

In this paper we implement a long-term multi-sectoral energy planning model to evaluate the role of green hydrogen in the energy mix of Chile a country with a high renewable potential under stringent emission reduction objectives in 2050. Our results show that green hydrogen is a cost-effective and environmentally friendly route especially for hard-to-abate sectors such as interprovincial and freight transport. They also suggest a strong synergy of hydrogen with electricity generation from renewable sources. Our numerical simulations show that Chile should (i) start immediately to develop hydrogen production through electrolyzers all along the country (ii) keep investing in wind and solar generation capacities ensuring a low cost hydrogen production and reinforce the power transmission grid to allow nodal hydrogen production (iii) foster the use of electric mobility for cars and local buses and of hydrogen for long-haul trucks and interprovincial buses and (iv) develop seasonal hydrogen storage and hydrogen cells to be exploited for electricity supply especially for the most stringent emission reduction objectives.

Renewable Energy Community (REC) is a new paradigm in European Union to produce transform share and sell renewables at a local consumer level also via e-fuel (i.e. hydrogen). This work investigates the economic feasibility of a hydrogen Power-to-Gas (PtG) system realized inside a REC using only excess renewable electricity not consumed by REC itself. A single centralized photovoltaic (PV) plant is directly connected to an electrolyser; a hydrogen compressor and two hydrogen storages at low and high pressure complete the PtG system. A scenario of a REC composed by 450 residential electric users (around 1000 people) has been analysed coupled with described PtG considering eight different sizes of PV plant. In the study Italian subsidies to REC shared energy are evaluated as incentives to hydrogen production. An optimal size of PtG components for each PV size is investigated at the limit of economical sustainability evaluating net present value (NPV) positive and near zero. Results show that for the considered REC it is possible to produce and sell up to around 3 tons per year of green hydrogen at most to the same lowest selling price declared currently in the Italian market (5 €/kg).

Meeting the Paris Agreement's goal to limit global warming to well below 2 °C and pursuing efforts towards 1.5 °C is likely to require more rapid and fundamental energy system changes than the previously-agreed 2 °C target. Here we assess over 200 integrated assessment model scenarios which achieve 2 °C and well-below 2 °C targets drawn from the IPCC's fifth assessment report database combined with a set of 1.5 °C scenarios produced in recent years. We specifically assess differences in a range of near-term indicators describing CO2 emissions reductions pathways changes in primary energy and final energy across the economy's major sectors in addition to more detailed metrics around the use of carbon capture and storage (CCS) negative emissions low-carbon electricity and hydrogen.

The 2016 Paris Agreement (UNFCCC Authors 2015) is the latest of initiative to create an international consensus on action to reduce GHG emissions. However the challenge of meeting its targets lies mainly in the intimate relationship between GHG emissions and energy production which in turn links to industry and economic growth. The Middle East and North African region (MENA) particularly those nations rich oil and gas (O&G) resources depend on these as a main income source. Persuading the region to cut down on O&G production or reduce its GHG emissions is hugely challenging as it is so vital to its economic strength. In this paper an alternative option is established by creating an economic link between GHG emissions measured as their CO2 equivalent (CO2e) and the earning of profits through the concept of Social Carbon Cost (SCC). The case study is a small coastal city in Libya where 6% of electricity is assumed to be generated from renewable sources. At times when renewable energy (RE) output exceeds the demand for power the surplus is used for powering the production of hydrogen by electrolysis thus storing the energy and creating an emission-free fuel. Two scenarios are tested based on short and long term SCCs. In the short term scenario the amount of fossil fuel energy saved matches the renewable energy produced which equates to the same amount of curtailed O&G production. The O&G-producing region can earn profits in two ways: (1) by cutting down CO2 emissions as a result of a reduction in O&G production and (2) by replacing an amount of fossil fuel with electrolytically-produced hydrogen which creates no CO2 emissions. In the short term scenario the value of SCC saved is nearly 39% and in the long term scenario this rose to 83%.

As part of its efforts to secure a ‘net-zero society’ the UK government will take a strategic decision on the role of hydrogen in decarbonising homes within the next years. While scholars have recently advanced the social science research agenda on hydrogen technology acceptance studies are yet to engage with the prospective dynamics of adopting ‘hydrogen homes’. In response this study examines the perceived adoption potential of hydrogen heating and cooking technologies as evaluated through the eyes of consumer. Engaging with behavioural and market acceptance this research draws on data from a broadly nationally representative online survey to examine the influence of safety technological economic environmental and emotional factors on the domestic hydrogen transition in the UK context. The analysis follows a multi-stage empirical approach integrating findings from partial least squares structural equation and necessary condition analysis to crystallise insights on this emergent subject. At this juncture perceived adoption potential may hinge primarily on emotional environmental safety and to a lesser extent technological perspectives. However consumers have an expressed preference for hydrogen heating over hydrogen cooking with perceived boiler performance emerging as a necessary condition for enabling adoption potential. At the formative phase of the transition risks associated with energy insecurity and fuel poverty exceed concerns over purchasing and running costs. Nevertheless economic factors remain less critical during the pre-deployment phase of the innovation-decision process. Across the full sample simple slope analysis highlights the moderating effects of gender age and housing tenure. Moreover statistically significant differences from both a sufficiency- and necessity-based perspective are detected between male property owners aged 55+ and female mortgage owners 18–34 years old. By bridging the knowledge gap between social acceptance and adoption intention this contribution reinforces the need for consumer engagement in the hydrogen economy advocating for more fine-grained mixed-methods analyses of technology acceptance dynamics to support decarbonisation strategies.

As the world moves to clean renewable energy questions arise as to how best to produce and use hydrogen. Here we propose using hydrogen produced only by electrolysis with clean renewable electricity (green hydrogen). We then test the impact of producing such hydrogen intermittently versus continuously for steel and ammonia manufacturing and long-distance transport via fuel cells on the cost of matching electricity heat cold and hydrogen demand with supply and storage on grids worldwide. An estimated 79 32 and 91 Tg-H2/y of green hydrogen are needed in 2050 among 145 countries for steel ammonia and long-distance transport respectively. Producing and compressing such hydrogen for these processes may consume ~12.1% of the energy needed for end-use sectors in these countries after they transition to 100% wind-water-solar (WWS) in all such sectors. This is less than the energy needed for fossil fuels to power the same processes. Due to the variability of WWS electricity producing green hydrogen intermittently rather than continuously thus with electrolyzer use factors significantly below unity (0.2–0.65) may reduce overall energy costs with 100% WWS. This result is subject to model uncertainties but appears robust. In sum grid operators should incorporate intermittent green hydrogen production and use in planning.

Hydrogen (H2) usage was 90 metric tonnes (Mt) in 2020 almost entirely for industrial and refining uses and generated almost completely from fossil fuels leading to nearly 900 Mt of carbon dioxide emissions. However there has been significant growth of H2 in recent years. Electrolysers' total capacity which are required to generate H2 from electricity has multiplied in the past years reaching more than 300 MW through 2021. Approximately 350 projects reportedly under construction could push total capacity to 54 GW by the year 2030. Some other 40 projects totalling output of more than 35 GW are in the planning phase. If each of these projects is completed global H2 production from electrolysers could exceed 8 Mt by 2030. It's an opportunity to take advantage of H2S prospects to be a crucial component of a clean safe and cost-effective sustainable future. This paper assesses the situation regarding H2 at the moment and provides recommendations for its potential future advancement. The study reveals that clean H2 is experiencing significant unparalleled commercial and political force with the amount of laws and projects all over the globe growing quickly. The paper concludes that in order to make H2 more widely employed it is crucial to significantly increase innovations and reduce costs. The practical and implementable suggestions provided to industries and governments will allow them to fully capitalise on this growing momentum.

Many factors to be appropriately addressed in moving towards energy sustainability are examined. These include harnessing sustainable energy sources utilizing sustainable energy carriers increasing efficiency reducing environmental impact and improving socioeconomic acceptability. The latter factor includes community involvement and social acceptability economic affordability and equity lifestyles land use and aesthetics. Numerous illustrations demonstrate measures consistent with the approach put forward and options for energy sustainability and the broader objective of sustainability. Energy sustainability is of great importance to overall sustainability given the pervasiveness of energy use its importance in economic development and living standards and its impact on the environment.

The topic of energy islands is currently a focal point in the push for the energy transition. An ambitious project in the North Sea aims to build an offshore wind-powered electrolyser for green hydrogen production. Power-to-X (PtX) is a process of converting renewable electricity into hydrogen-based energy carriers such as natural gas liquid fuels and chemicals. PtH2 represents a subset of PtX wherein hydrogen is the resultant green energy from the conversion process. Many uncertainties surround PtH2 plants affecting the economic success of the investment and making the price of hydrogen and the levelized cost of hydrogen (LCOH) of this technology uncompetitive. Several studies have analysed PtH2 layouts to identify the hydrogen price without considering how component capacities and external inputs affect the breakeven price. Unlike previous works this paper investigates component capacity dependencies under variables such as wind and hydrogen demand shape for dedicated/non-dedicated system layouts. To this end the techno-economic analysis finds the breakeven price optimising the components to reach the lowest selling price. Results show that the hydrogen price can reach 2.2 €/kg for a non-dedicated system for certain combinations of maximum demand and electrolyser capacity. Furthermore the LCOH analysis revealed that the offshore wind electrolyser system is currently uncompetitive with hydrogen production from carbon-based technologies but is competitive with renewable technologies. The sensitivity analysis reveals the green electricity price in the non-dedicated case for which a dedicated system has a lower optimum hydrogen price. The price limit for the dedicated case is 116 €/MWh.

In recent years sustainable development has become a challenge for many societies due to natural or other disruptive events which have disrupted economic environmental and energy infrastructure growth. Developing hydrogen energy infrastructure is crucial for sustainable development because of its numerous benefits over conventional energy sources. However the complexity of hydrogen energy infrastructure including production utilization and storage stages requires accounting for potential vulnerabilities. Therefore resilience needs to be considered along with sustainable development. This paper proposes a decision-making framework to evaluate the resilience of hydrogen energy infrastructure by integrating resilience indicators and sustainability contributing factors. A holistic taxonomy of resilience performance is first developed followed by a qualitative resilience assessment framework using a novel Intuitionistic fuzzy Weighted Influence Nonlinear Gauge System (IFWINGS). The results highlighted that Regulation and legislation Government preparation and Crisis response budget are the most critical resilience indicators in the understudy hydrogen energy infrastructure. A comparative case study demonstrates the practicality capability and effectiveness of the proposed approach. The results suggest that the proposed model can be used for resilience assessment in other areas.

Green hydrogen is set to become the energy carrier of the future provided that production technologies such as electrolysis and solar water splitting can be scaled to global dimensions. Testing these hydrogen technologies on the MW scale requires the development of dedicated new test facilities for which there is no precedent. This perspective highlights the challenges to be met on the path to implementing a test facility for large-scale water electrolysis photoelectrochemical and photocatalytic water splitting and aims to serve as a much-needed blueprint for future test facilities based on the authors’ own experience in establishing the Hydrogen Lab Leuna. Key aspects to be considered are the electricity and utility requirements of the devices under testing the analysis of the produced H2 and O2 and the safety regulations for handling large quantities of H2 . Choosing the right location is crucial not only for meeting these device requirements but also for improving financial viability through supplying affordable electricity and providing a remunerated H2 sink to offset the testing costs. Due to their lower TRL and requirement for a light source large-scale photocatalysis and photoelectrochemistry testing are less developed and the requirements are currently less predictable.

Purpose: The standards module of the FCHO presents a large number of standards relevant for the deployment of hydrogen and fuel cells. The standards are categorized per application enhancing ease of access and findability. The development of sector-relevant standards facilitate and enhance economies of scale interoperability comparability safety and many other issues. https://www.fchobservatory.eu/observatory/Policy-and-RCS/Standards Scope: This report presents the developments in European and international standards for the year 2020.Standards from the following standards developing organizations are included: CEN CENELEC ISO IEC OIML. Key Findings: The development of sector relevant standards on an international level continued to grow in 2020; on a European level many standards are still in the process of being drafted. In 2020 12 new standards have been published mainly on the subject of fuel cell technologies. The recently established committee CEN-CLC JTC 6 (Hydrogen in energy systems) has not published standards yet but is working on drafting standards on for example Guarantees of Origin. Previous Reports The first report was published in September 2020. This report is the 2nd Annual report.

This contribution delves into the transformative effects of the Russian–Ukrainian war on the discourse surrounding German hydrogen. Employing structural topical modeling (STM) on a vast dataset of 2192 newspaper articles spanning from 2019 to 2022 it aims to uncover thematic shifts attributed to the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The onset of the war in February 2022 triggered a significant pivot in the discourse shifting it from sustainability and climate-change mitigation to the securing of energy supplies through new partnerships particularly in response to Russia’s unreliability. Germany started exploring alternative energy trading partners like Canada and Australia emphasizing green hydrogen development. The study illustrates how external shocks can expedite the uptake of new technologies. The adoption of the “H2 readiness” concept for LNG terminals contributes to the successful implementation of green hydrogen. In summary the Russian–Ukrainian war profoundly impacted the German hydrogen discourse shifting the focus from sustainability to energy supply security underscoring the interconnectedness of energy security and sustainability in Germany’s hydrogen policy.

Purpose: The purpose of the hydrogen supply and demand data stream is to track changes in the structure of hydrogen supply capacity and demand in Europe. This report is mainly focused on presenting the current landscape that will allow for future year-on-year comparisons to assess the progress Europe is making with regards to deployment of clean hydrogen production capacity as well as development of demand for clean hydrogen from emerging new hydrogen applications in industry or mobility sectors. Scope: The following report contains data about hydrogen production capacity and consumption in EU countries together with Switzerland Norway Iceland and the United Kingdom. Hydrogen production capacity is presented by country and by production technology whereas the hydrogen consumption data is presented by country and by end-use sector. The analysis undertaken for this report was completed using data reflecting end of 2019. Key Findings: The current hydrogen market (on both the demand and supply side) is dominated by ammonia and refining industries with three countries (DE NL PL) responsible for almost half of hydrogen consumption. Hydrogen is overwhelmingly produced by reforming of fossil fuels (mostly natural gas). Clean hydrogen production capacities are currently insignificant with hydrogen produced from natural gas coupled with carbon capture at 0.5% and hydrogen produced from water electrolysis at 0.14% of total production capacity.

The hydrogen energy industry as one of the most important directions for future energy transformation can promote the sustainable development of the global economy and of society. China has raised the development of hydrogen energy to a strategic position. Based on the patent data in the past two decades this study investigates the collaborative innovation relationships in China’s hydrogen energy field using complex network theory. Firstly patent data filed between 2003 and 2023 are analyzed and compared in terms of time geography and institutional and technological dimensions. Subsequently a patent collaborative innovation network is constructed to explore the fundamental characteristics and evolutionary patterns over five stages. Furthermore centrality measures and community detection algorithms are utilized to identify core entities and innovation alliances within the network which reveal that China’s hydrogen energy industry is drifting toward alliance innovation. The study results show the following: (1) the network has grown rapidly in size and scope over the last two decades and evolved from the initial stage to the multi-center stage before forming innovation alliances; (2) core innovative entities are important supports and bridges for China’s hydrogen energy industry and control most resources and maintain the robustness of the whole network; (3) innovation alliances reveal the closeness of the collaborative relationships between innovative entities and the potential landscape of China’s hydrogen energy industry; and (4) most of the innovation alliances cooperate only on a narrow range of technologies which may hinder the overall sustainable growth of the hydrogen energy industry. Thereafter some suggestions are put forward from the perspective of an industrial chain and innovation chain which may provide a theoretical reference for collaborative innovation and the future development and planning in the field of hydrogen energy in China.

With the question of ‘can short messages be effective in increasing public support for a complex new technology (hydrogen)?‘ this study uses a representative national survey in Australia to analyze the differences and variations in subjective support for hydrogen in response to four differently framed short messages. The findings of this study show that short messages can increase social acceptance but the effects depend on how strongly the message is framed in terms of its alignment with either an economic or environmental values framework. Furthermore the effects depend on the social and cultural context of the receiver of the message.

Transforming Europe into a climate neutral economy and society by 2050 requires extraordinary efforts and the mobilisation of all sectors and economic actors coupled with all the creative and brain power one can imagine. Each sector has to fundamentally rethink the way it operates to ensure it can be transformed towards this new net-zero paradigm without jeopardising other environmental and societal objectives both within the EU and globally. Given the scale of the transformation ahead our ability to meet climate neutrality targets directly depends on our ability to innovate. In this context Research & Innovation programmes have a key role to play and it is crucial to ensure they are fit for purpose and well equipped to support the next wave of breakthrough innovations that will be required to achieve climate neutrality in the EU and globally by 2050. The objective of this study is to contribute to these strategic planning discussions by not only identifying high-risk and high-impact climate mitigation solutions but most importantly look beyond individual solutions and consider how systemic interactions of climate change mitigation approaches can be integrated in the development of R&I agendas.

The role of negative emissions technologies (NETs) in climate change mitigation remains contentious. Although numerous studies indicate significant carbon dioxide removal (CDR) requirements for Paris Agreement mitigation goals to be achieved others point out challenges and risks associated with high CDR strategies. Using a multiscale modeling approach we explore NETs’ potential for a single country the United Kingdom (UK). Here we report that the UK has cost-effective potential to remove 79 MtCO2 per year by 2050 rising to 126–134 MtCO2 per year with well-integrated NETs in industrial clusters. Results highlight that biomass gasification for hydrogen generation with CCS is emerging as a key NET despite biomass availability being a limiting factor. Moreover solid DACCS systems utilizing industrial waste heat integration offer a solution to offsetting increases in demand from transportation and industrial sectors. These results emphasize the importance of a multiscale whole-systems assessment for integrating NETs into industrial strategies.

Hydrogen and its derivatives are important components to achieve climate policy goals especially in terms of greenhouse gas neutrality. There is an ongoing controversial debate about the applications in which hydrogen and its derivatives should be used and to what extent. Typically the estimation of hydrogen demand relies on scenario-based analyses with varying underlying assumptions and targets. This study establishes a new framework consisting of existing energy system simulation and optimisation models in order to assess the long-term price-elastic demand of hydrogen. The aim of this work is to shift towards an analysis of the hydrogen demand that is primarily driven by its price. This is done for the case of Germany because of the expected high hydrogen demand for the years 2025–2045. 15 wholesale price pathways were established with final prices in 2045 between 56 €/MWh and 182 €/MWh. The results suggest that – if climate targets are to be achieved - even with high hydrogen prices (252 €/MWh in 2030 and 182 €/MWh in 2045) a significant hydrogen demand in the industry sector and the energy conversion sector is expected to emerge (318 TWh). Furthermore the energy conversion sector has a large share of price sensitive hydrogen demand and therefore its demand strongly increases with lower prices. The road transportation sector will only play a small role in terms of hydrogen demand if prices are low. In the decentralised heating for buildings no relevant demand will be seen over the considered price ranges whereas the centralised supply of heat via heat grids increases as prices fall.

In the context of the German Energiewende the current government intends to install six million heat pumps by 2030. Replacing gas heating by power has significant implications on the infrastructure. One of the biggest advantages of using gas is the existing storage portfolio. It has not been clarified yet how power demand should be structured on an annual level—especially since power storage is already a problem and solar power is widely promoted to fuel heat pumps despite having an inverse profile. In this article three different solutions namely hydrogen batteries and carbon capture and storage are discussed with respect to resources energy and financial demand. It shows that relying solely on batteries or hydrogen is not solving the structuring problem. A combination of all existing technologies (including fossil fuels) is required to structure the newly generated electricity demand

This report aims to summarise the status of the European hydrogen market landscape. It is based on the information available at the European Hydrogen Observatory (EHO) platform the leading source of data and information on hydrogen in Europe (EU27 EFTA and the UK) providing a full overview of the hydrogen market and the deployment of clean hydrogen technologies. As of the end of 2022 a total of 476 operational hydrogen production facilities across Europe boasting a cumulative hydrogen production capacity of approximately 11.30 Mt were identified. Notably the largest share of this capacity is contributed by key European countries including Germany the Netherlands Poland Italy and France which collectively account for 56% of the total hydrogen capacity. The hydrogen consumption in Europe has been estimated at approximately 8.23 Mt reflecting an average capacity utilisation rate of 73%. It's worth highlighting that conventional hydrogen production methods encompassing reforming by-product production from ethylene and styrene and by-product electrolysis collectively yield 11.28 Mt of hydrogen capacity. These conventional processes are distributed across 376 production facilities constituting 99.9% of the total production capacity in 2022. Throughout the year 2022 there were no newly commissioned hydrogen production facilities that integrated carbon capture technology into their operations. Additionally a notable presence of water electrolysis-based hydrogen production projects in Europe was identified. There was a total of 97 water electrolysis projects with 67 of them having a minimum capacity of 0.5 MW resulting in a cumulative production capacity of 174.28 MW. Furthermore 46 such projects were found to be under construction and are anticipated to contribute an additional 1199.07 MW of water electrolysis capacity upon becoming operational with the estimated timeframe ranging from January 2023 to 2025. A significant 87% of the total hydrogen production capacity in Europe is dedicated to onsite captive consumption indicating that it is primarily produced and used within the facility. The remaining 13% of capacity is specifically allocated for external distribution and sale characterizing what's known as merchant consumption. Despite the prevailing dominance of captive hydrogen production within Europe it's noteworthy that thousands of metric tonnes of hydrogen are already being traded and distributed across the continent. These transfers often occur through dedicated hydrogen pipelines or transportation via trucks. In 2022 an example of this growing trend was the hydrogen export from Belgium to the Netherlands which emerged as the single most significant hydrogen flow between European countries constituting a substantial 75% of all hydrogen traded in Europe. Belgium earned distinction as Europe's leading hydrogen exporter with 78% of the hydrogen that flowed between European countries originating 6 from its facilities. Conversely the Netherlands played a pivotal role as Europe's primary hydrogen importer accounting for an impressive 76% of the hydrogen imported into the continent. The rise of the clean hydrogen market in Europe coupled with the European Union's ambition to import 10 Mt of renewable hydrogen from non-EU sources by 2030 is expected to drive an increase in hydrogen flows both exports and imports among European countries. In 2022 the total demand for hydrogen in Europe was estimated to be 8.19 Mt. The biggest share of hydrogen demand comes from refineries which were responsible for 57% of total hydrogen use (4.6 Mt) followed by the ammonia industry with 24% (2.0 Mt). Together these two sectors consumed 81% of the total hydrogen consumption in Europe. Clean hydrogen demand while currently making up less than 0.1% of the overall hydrogen demand is notably driven by the mobility sector. Forecasts project an impressive growth trajectory in total hydrogen demand for Europe over the coming decades. Projections show a remarkable 127% surge from 2030 to 2040 followed by a substantial 63% increase from 2040 to 2050. Considering the current hydrogen demand there is a projected 51% increase until 2030. Throughout the three decades under examination the industrial sector is anticipated to maintain its predominant position consistently demonstrating the highest demand for hydrogen. However this conclusion refers to average values and variations that may exist. The total number of Hydrogen Fuel Cell Electric Vehicles (FCEV) registrations in Europe in 2022 was estimated at 1537 units. In comparison to the previous year the number of registrations increased by 31%. This surge in registrations has had a pronounced impact on the overall FCEV fleet's evolution in Europe which increased from 4050 units to 5570 (+38%). Notably passenger cars dominated the landscape constituting 86% of the total FCEV fleet. Exploring the latest advancements in hydrogen infrastructure across Europe in 2022 the hydrogen distribution network comprised spanning a total length of 1569 km. Within Europe the largest networks are situated in Belgium and Germany at 600 km and 400 km respectively. Of particular importance is the cross-border network of France Belgium and the Netherlands spanning a total of 964 km. To keep pace with the rising number of Fuel Cell Electric Vehicles (FCEVs) on European roads and promote their wider integration it is key to ensure sufficient accessibility to refuelling infrastructure. Consequently many countries are endorsing the establishment of hydrogen refuelling stations (HRS) so that they are publicly accessible on a nationwide scale. More recharging and refuelling stations for alternative fuels will be deployed in the coming years across Europe enabling the transport sector to significantly reduce its carbon footprint following the adoption of the alternative fuel infrastructure regulation (AFIR). Part of the regulation's main target is that hydrogen refuelling stations serving both cars and lorries must be deployed from 7 2030 onwards in all urban nodes and every 200 km along the TEN-T core network. Since 2015 the total number of operational and publicly accessible HRS in Europe has grown at an accelerated pace from 38 to 178 by the summer of 2023. Germany takes the lead having the largest share at approximately 54% of the total number of HRS with 96 stations currently operational. The majority of the HRS (89%) are equipped with 700 bar car dispensers. In 2022 the levelized production costs of hydrogen generated through Steam Methane Reforming (SMR) in Europe averaged approximately 6.23 €/kg H2. When incorporating a carbon capture system the average cost of hydrogen production via SMR in Europe increased to 6.38 €/kg H2. Additionally the production costs of hydrogen in Europe for 2022 utilizing grid electricity averaged 9.85 €/kg H2. Hydrogen production costs through electrolysis with a direct connection to a renewable energy source had an average estimated cost of 6.86 €/kg. As of May 2023 Europe's operational water electrolyser manufacturing capacity stands at 3.11 GW/year with an additional 2.64 GW planned by the end of 2023. Alkaline technologies make up 53% of the total capacity. Looking ahead to 2025 ongoing projects are expected to raise the total capacity to 7.65 GW/year. Fuel cell deployment in Europe has showed an increasing trend over the past decade. The total number of shipped fuel cells were forecasted on around 11200 units in 2021 and a total capacity of 190 MW. The most significant increase in capacity occurred between 2018 and the forecast of 2021 (+148.8 MW).