'International green hydrogen producers will shun European markets due to overly strict regulations': Hydrogen Europe boss
Jorgo Chatzimarkakis describes the EU’s proposed Delegated Act that defines renewable H2 as a straitjacket that will unnecessarily increase the price of production
Hydrogen: hype, hope and the hard truths around its role in the energy transition
Chatzimarkakis singled out Brazil and Egypt as countries where developers are actively questioning the European approach, based on conversations he has had with industry contacts there.
“We heard this from Brazil, after they saw the Delegated Act,” he told the Amsterdam audience. “They said, ‘we are new kids on the block in Brazil, and Europe is not a destination for us. Why should we go there?’”
“When I was in Egypt, I saw anger during the Sharm el-Sheikh [COP 27] conference,” he added. “Anger of Egyptian project bosses, who say ‘we built this all up and where is the offtake now? The US is much more attractive’.”
The US Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) has acted as a “wake up call” for European legislators, which gives him some optimism, he said.
But Chatzimarkakis also attacked the complexity of the rules, which he claimed even EU officials did not fully understand, as well as the uncertainty caused by the scheduled review in 2028, in which the European Commission would decide whether or not to proceed with tightening the rules even further in 2030 to mandate hourly matching, rather than monthly.
He also complained about the lack of “grandfathering” in which first mover projects would be protected from subsequent rule changes.
“It’s worse for the guys producing hydrogen in Europe,” he noted, comparing the DA to a “straightjacket” and lamenting that electric cars, which can use grid electricity produced from fossil fuels, are classed as green.
“It’s unfair to just single out one sector which is a very, very important sector for the industrial development of Europe to just single it out and punch it,” he said. “But the narrative has been built into a bubble in Brussels where lots of NGOs are running around and telling everyone if we do it, the fossil industry will win.
“This is a bad, restrictive definition. Please don’t adopt [it] in the rest of the world.”
He added that introducing similar rules in the US would drive up the cost of green hydrogen there by 170%.
The EU Delegated Act has been cleared by the European Parliament, although it still needs to be formally adopted, and it will also need to be approved the European Council of member state ministers.
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