- Vehicle manufacturers, transporters, shipping companies and the railway sector confirmed at the Green Gas Mobility Summit their commitment to hydrogen and its derivatives to undertake their decarbonisation plans.
- The sector is calling for government support for the national deployment of a network of hydropower plants.
- More than 1,300 accredited attendees, a broad institutional representation and leading energy and transport companies have positioned the Green Gas Mobility Summit as a benchmark in the search for a sustainable future.
Hydrogen, the energy vector that has received the most headlines this year with dozens of projects announced, has been the main protagonist of the last day of the Green Gas Mobility Summit 2023, where it has emerged as the alternative of the future that will enable zero emissions transport by road and sea.
During the event that Gasnam-Neutral Transport organised yesterday and today in Madrid, it was made clear that hydrogen and its derivatives are a necessary solution to achieve the ambitious decarbonisation targets set by the demanding European regulations in all modes of transport.
Starting with urban transport, we have been able to find out from the president & CEO of Toyota España Miguel Carsi and the CEO of HysetCo (Toyota France), Loïc Voisin , how the four hydrogen stations in the Paris region, which distribute more than 20 tonnes of hydrogen per month to more than 400 hydrogen vehicles rented for taxi use, operate. This pioneering experience is helping Toyota Spain to decarbonise taxi and VTC fleets, such as that of Cabify in Madrid. In their speech, both stressed that they expect exponential growth in the coming years, both in the number of vehicles and in the refuelling infrastructure, which will allow hydrogen to be competitive by 2030 and to reach its full potential by 2050.
Heavy road transport is also no stranger to the boom in hydrogen projects. Jaime S. Gallego detailed the advances that IVECO is making to put the first hydrogen trucks on the market from 2024, and in the outdoor exhibition that accompanies this event it was possible to visit the Westport Fuel Systems demonstrator truck, which has a direct hydrogen injection system, and which is a highly efficient zero-emission solution, according to Nadège Leclercq.
These advances must necessarily go hand in hand with the development of a capillary and well-distributed service station network. The round table that brought together technologists and service station operators Calvera Hydrogen (José Luis Fernández), Carburos Metálicos (Alberto Moral), Galp (Matthieu Brouté), PRF (Bruno Faustino) and Repsol (Marta Bielza) sent a unanimous message to the administration: ‘greater support is required to promote the development of a network of capillary hydrogen service stations with national coverage’. To date, the Iberian Peninsula only has 9 hydrogen stations with a small supply capacity, a far cry from the objective of the European AFIR regulation (one hydrogen station open to the public every 200 km in the TEN-T network and in urban centres with the capacity to supply 1 tonne per day).
European policies subject the maritime sector to strict regulation limiting the carbon intensity of the energy used, while establishing the need for a quota for the use of renewable fuels and an incentive scheme to support the adoption of renewable fuels of non-biological origin RFNBO’s (green hydrogen and its derivatives). This situation, which will lead to a fuel switch in the sector in the coming years, requires technological advances to ensure the availability and competitiveness of these renewable alternatives. This was stated at the round table on new fuels in which Bureau Veritas (Carlos Guerrero), DH2 Energy (Philippe Esposito), Lloyd’s Register (Constantinos Chaelis) and Navantia Seanergies (Juan Ignacio Jiménez) participated.
Finally, the railway industry also sees renewable hydrogen as the solution to put an end to emissions from non-electrified lines. Talgo (Emilio García) and CNH2 (Carlos de la Cruz) have highlighted that the versatility of this renewable vector and its capacity to store energy to be released gradually make it an exceptional ally to achieve the commitment of operators such as Renfe (Valentín Alegría), who aim to be carbon neutral by 2050.
The day was also attended by the companies that are driving the hydrogen valleys that will supply green hydrogen to these modes of transport. Cepsa (Olivia Infantes), BP (Irene Lores), Nortegas (Izaskun Gorostiaga), Naturgy (Ohiana Goicoechea) and Redexis (Miguel Mayrata) explained the progress being made in the development of the hydrogen valleys in Andalusia, Valencia, the Basque Country, Galicia and the Balearic Islands and the opportunities and challenges that these ambitious renewable hydrogen generation initiatives represent.
Regulation and renewable gases in the energy transition
For the effective development of the hydrogen economy, it is essential to have standards that bring value to producers and certainty of renewable origin to users. In this regard, Laurence Boisramé, Hydrogen Global Sales Director at Bureau Veritas, has presented a certification scheme for the production of renewable hydrogen and renewable ammonia.
Likewise, in a conversation with Beatriz Moreno, from the CNMC, we learned about the challenges that the regulator is facing when dealing with the regulation of connection and access of biomethane and hydrogen to the natural gas network. For his part, the IDAE’s Director of Renewable Energies and Electricity Market, Víctor Marcos, presented the initiatives to support renewable gases that are being promoted by the institute.
European institutions were also represented at the event. The European Commission’s Director for Green Transition and Energy System Integration, Catharina Sikow-Magny, and the MEP and member of the Committee on Industry, Research and Energy (ITRE), Carlos Zorrinho, analysed the actions that Europe is developing to boost the single hydrogen market, and how the Fit for 55 package will help the transformation of the different types of transport.
With more than 1,300 people accredited for this edition, a wide institutional representation and the presence of leading energy and transport companies, the Green Gas Mobility Summit is a benchmark in the search for more sustainable transport.