Solar developers including Falck Renewables and Qair are among the 30 founding members of a new coalition that aims to deliver green hydrogen at the same price as fossil fuel-produced H2 this decade.
The HyDeal Ambition initiative – which also consists of utilities, gas transmission system operators, infrastructure funds and consultants – will look to deliver green hydrogen across Europe at €1.5/kg (US$1.82) before 2030.
The ambition is to achieve 95GW of solar and 67GW of electrolysis capacity by 2030 to deliver 3.6 million tonnes of green hydrogen per year to users in the energy, industry and mobility sectors via the gas transmission and storage network.
A series of projects and partnerships are now being launched involving several of the 30 participants, with a first initiative expected within a year in Spain, based on a portfolio of solar sites with a capacity of close to 10GW. Other projects will then be carried out in France and Germany.
HyDeal spokesperson Thierry Lepercq said the initiative spans the whole green hydrogen value chain (upstream, midstream, downstream, finance), and results from two years of research, feasibility studies and contract design. “HyDeal Ambition makes it possible to produce and deliver competitive green hydrogen in Europe,” he said.
The announcement follows the formation of a similar coalition called the Green Hydrogen Catapult, which has seven members – including Iberdrola, ACWA Power and CWP Renewables – and aims drive down the cost of producing renewable hydrogen to below US$2/kg by 2026.
Analysis from IHS Markit suggests that costs below US$2/kg for electrolysis are where green hydrogen starts becoming competitive with traditional hydrogen. The research firm predicts annual global investments in green hydrogen to exceed US$1 billion by 2023 as production costs continue to fall.