Virtual Conference Hydrogen-Ready – Europe’s Plans & Our Contribution

Many speakers – one message: hydrogen is the missing link to achieve climate-neutrality. This is one of the key takeaways of our virtual conference “Hydrogen-Ready: Europe’s Plans and our Contribution”.

High-level speakers from European institutions, national ministries, industry and other stakeholders gathered on 15 September to discuss how the hydrogen economy can be achieved. The discussion was focused on two main areas: ramping up hydrogen production to create a competitive market and repurposing the existing infrastructure – including power generation – with the introduction of hydrogen.  

Announced in July 2020 just before the summer break, the EU Hydrogen Strategy should help achieving a climate-neutral European energy system by accelerating the creation of a hydrogen economy. The virtual conference “Hydrogen-Ready – Europe’s Plans & our Contribution” was one of the first chances to discuss quantities, challenges and opportunities of the strategy – while also debating the role of hydrogen in power generation.

The main takeaway: hydrogen is the missing link for the energy transition. Speakers agreed on the importance of hydrogen to decarbonise the European and global energy system. They underlined that the future energy system will not only be dominated by electrons, and that molecules guarantee a decarbonised, stable and reliable energy system.

Related to investments, the speakers were clear: achieving the hydrogen economy means that massive investments are needed, which are aligned with the targets and plans of the EU Green Recovery and the EU Green Deal. Some speakers also mentioned that power generation may not be among the first costumers of hydrogen but they underlined that hydrogen-powered gas plants will be key for balancing the stability of the grid in a climate-neutral energy system.

The recording of the session, the corresponding slides and the press release related to the conference are available below. We invite you to have look at our virtual exhibition, where EUTurbines members prove that turbines are able to adapt to decarbonised and renewable gases, such as hydrogen!

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Don’t forget to also visit the virtual exhibition on our members’ activities related to the #PowerTheEU Commitments .