EU backs $14bn hydrogen project to help cut carbon

Bloomberg

The European Union (EU) took a step towards accelerating its deployment of hydrogen across the bloc, by approving a 15-nation project to help produce the fuel seen as critical to decarbonising heavy industry.
The EU’s executive gave the green light under state aid rules to an “Important Project of Common European Interest” that will help unlock around $9 billion in private investments and lead to around forty further projects that will help roll out hydrogen infrastructure, according to a statement.
Around 10 gigawatts of electrolysers, used to produce the fuel, will be made annually under the plans, involving some 5 billion euros of public support.
“Promoting clean hydrogen development and deployment in Europe is essential for our energy security, our decarbonisation and the competitiveness of our industry,” Thierry Breton, internal market commissioner, said in a statement. “Europe has the vision and the firepower to rise to industrial leadership in strategic green technologies.”
The European Commission announcement comes as the EU looks to rapidly accelerate the supply and use of green hydrogen, seen as a key technology to help decarbonize the most energy-intensive industries like steel and cement. The fuel is produced by using renewable electricity and has no carbon dioxide emissions, yet the process to make it can be complicated and expensive.
Under plans to rid itself of Russian fossil fuels, the EU wants to produce 10 million tons of green hydrogen and import the same from abroad by the end of the decade.