The new initiative “Choose Renewable Hydrogen” calls the European commision to make the right choice concerning EU’s energy system integration and hydrogen strategy.
The new initiative includes 10 companies and associations: Akuo Energy, BayWa r.e., EDP, Enel, Iberdrola, MHI Vestas, SolarPower Europe, Ørsted, Vestas and WindEurope.
The participants are calling the EU to prioritize the most efficient, sustainable and cost-effective options to achieve the decarbonization of the economy.
The initiative highlights the importance of a greener future, commenting that
… harvesting the full potential of renewable electricity to fully decarbonise Europe’s power system.
Although direct electrification will be the primary way for decarbonizing heating and road transport, the initiative notes that there are other, ‘hard-to-abate’ sectors – such as, chemicals, heavy industry, long-haul road transport, aviation, and shipping – where direct electrification is insufficient.
The signatories say that renewable hydrogen can play a key role as the most cost-effective and sustainable solution for full decarbonisation.
Referring to the initiative, Aurelie Beauvais, interim CEO of SolarPower Europe, stated that “Renewable energy technologies are ready to form the backbone of the European Green Deal. They are cost-competitive, highly scalable and can provide fully sustainable hydrogen solutions to achieve the last mile of Europe’s decarbonisation.”
The initiative will play an important role to boosting the efforts towards decarbonization for Europe, keeping in mind that Europe launched the Green Deal Investment Plan which will attract public investment and unlock private funds through EU financial instruments, most importantly InvestEU, which can lead to at least €1 trillion of investments.
In the meantime, Giles Dickson, CEO WindEurope commented that
We need to electrify as much of this other energy as we can. And wind will be key – the EU Commission and IEA say it will be half of Europe’s electricity by 2050 … But we cannot electrify everything. Some industrial processes and heavy transport will have to run on gas.
