The Role Of Green Hydrogen In The Energy Transition

In this episode, Michele Azalbert, CEO of Engie Hydrogen Business Unit, joins Joana Freitas to discuss the role of green hydrogen in the energy transition. Green hydrogen has created quite the buzz. From the European Commission’s ambitious roadmap for green hydrogen until 2050 to US President Joe Biden’s promise to use renewable energy to produce green hydrogen. Other countries like Chile, Japan, Saudi Arabia, and Australia are also announcing major investments in green hydrogen. Michele Azalbert sees hydrogen “as the missing link of the energy transition” as it would enable to store large quantities of renewables over a long period and to decarbonize several sectors, as industry, transport, construction and energy. Despite several false starts, hydrogen is gathering strong momentum as a key energy transition pillar. “Clearly, it is not the first time neither the second time hydrogen has been talked about, but we think this time seems to be different. Green hydrogen is not yet competitive. Today we are in the same kind of context, same momentum as we were 10 years ago with regard to Solar PV”. As Michele Azalbert starts to mention, green hydrogen emerges as an opportunity to decarbonize the hard-to-abate sectors. However, in the EU, the current estimated costs for brown hydrogen are around 1.5 €/kg, while green hydrogen costs around 2.5-5.5 €/kg. This competitiveness gap has been raising concerns on the financial sustainability of green hydrogen as a solution. In Azalbert’s perspective, “we have to go all together at scale now”, working both on the supply and demand side. Although the production of green hydrogen is not still economically viable, several energy companies are reinforcing their investments in electrolysers and green hydrogen facilities. Michele Azalbert touches on the specific case of Engie to explain: “The market is not yet there. Technical solutions are not yet available at scale and the customer is maybe not today willing to pay. However, at the level of Engie, we see ourselves as a hydrogen economy enabler. We need to activate the market.”