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Cabinet invests €450 million in the Netherlands’ first large-scale underground hydrogen storage facility
[Series 1/7] The Import of Hydrogen by the Netherlands
The hydrogen supply chain in the North Sea Canal region is taking shape
Hydrogen in 2025, where do we stand and what does it take?
Frontrunner Award for Watermeln
New Community of Practice Electrolysis helps accelerate testing and scaling of hydrogen technology
Why hydrogen?
In the Netherlands we have our climate goals, through which we want to reduce our CO2 emissions as much as possible. That starts with more energy from sustainable sources like sun and wind. But hydrogen can also help us. For example, as a sustainable alternative to fossil fuels. Hydrogen is also easy to store in large quantities. A nice reserve for those moments when sustainable energy sources like sun or wind fail for a while. Or the other way around: when there is a lot of solar and wind energy.
Position of hydrogen in 2050
The global energy mix in 2050 is likely to be 20% hydrogen. In comparison, the current energy mix is 20% electricity and 80% natural gas or fossil fuels. Our climate goals will significantly change this situation in the near future. The share of electricity generated by wind and solar will increase significantly. For a number of applications such as heavy transport, high-temperature processes in industry, and aviation a good electrical solution is still lacking and there is a need for a sustainable gas. Hydrogen can play a useful role here. In addition, hydrogen is important in the form of large-scale storage for times when it is windless and cloudy.
Hydrogen in the context of direct electrification
We need hydrogen to decarbonize sectors where direct electrification is not an option. Those sectors include the steel industry, the aviation industry (using synthetic kerosene jet fuel), and long-distance transportation (running on fuels made from hydrogen, methanol, or ammonia). Second, hydrogen can provide a balancing capacity to achieve a reliable energy system at the lowest social cost. And third, we need hydrogen for seasonal storage and for stability in low wind and cloudy conditions in northwestern Europe. For example, hydrogen can be stored under pressure in already existing salt caverns and empty gas fields.
