Svevind Energy, a German-Swedish company in Kazakhstan stated that it was collaborating with the Kazakh Invest National Company on the world’s largest green hydrogen complex, which would be fueled by 45 GW of wind and solar energy installed in the Central Asian nation.
This is one example where European firms are looking to invest outside the European Union (EU). The EU in particular is shifting to hydrogen as a replacement for fossil fuels like oil. Hydrogen emits no emissions, so if produced using clean energy sources, the fuel could have a big impact in the global fight against climate change.
Hydrogen’s contribution to the European energy mix should increase from 2 per cent to 14 per cent over the next three decades, with initiatives like the multicountry HyDeal Ambition plan driving the fuel source’s production. At the moment, the majority of hydrogen generated in the EU is derived from fossil fuels. As green hydrogen is more expensive to produce, coal-dependent central and eastern European countries like Poland prefer less climate-friendly “grey” hydrogen and do not want their production to be removed from the mix.
While hydrogen has the potential to address the problem of how to store energy and power businesses as European economies shift to renewables, it is only as clean as the energy used to generate it.
