More money, pipes, innovation & policy

One of the challenges that remains within the clean hydrogen sector is that of establishing how much it actually costs - with a whole variety of analyst figures out there with which to confuse oneself.

Now throwing their own analysis into the mix is MIBGAS, the operator of the market for natural gas, liquefied natural gas (LNG) and spot products in storage facilities within the Iberian Peninsula.

It has just published “the first Iberian renewable hydrogen price index”, starting with “a price of 5.85 €/kg (148.36 €/MWh)”. That number will be updated weekly and, MIBGAS claim, “reflects a reliable, robust, non-manipulable and representative cost-based signal” that is “the minimum price at which a producer is willing to sell to achieve the expected profitability”.

Or, put another way, “the price signal of the offer (ask) of renewable hydrogen produced in the Iberian Peninsula in a typical electrolysis plant”.

That product is, crucially, produced “in accordance with the criteria established in the European Union’s delegated acts of the for the production of RFNBO (Renewable Fuel of Non Biological Origin) hydrogen”.

To get to this point, a “group composed of Spanish and Portuguese stakeholders involved in the hydrogen value chain… met in five sessions” to define the model plant and methodology used for the calculation.

Next step for MIBGAS is to create an index for “the demand price (bid), which reflects the price an off-taker is willing to pay for renewable hydrogen”.

While Iberian producers will be hoping to sell to a burgeoning market of such hydrogen users in Europe, they will certainly face competition from non-European sources.

That prospect took a leap forward this week when the European Commission “granted state-aid approval to a €3bn ($3.12bn) German-Dutch H2Global scheme”.

Of that total amount of money, used to subsidise the difference between hydrogen purchase and sale prices, the split will be “€2.7bn by Germany and €300m by the Netherlands”. As with other H2Global schemes, the subsidy will enable Germany-based Hintco “to purchase green hydrogen (or its derivatives) from non-EU countries at auction” and then “sell it on to buyers in Germany and the Netherlands”.

The European Commission reckons this latest funding will “support the construction of at least 1.875GW of electrolysis capacity throughout the globe”, so long as this too “meets the strict RFNBO criteria, which include additionality, time matching and geographic location” (of electricity supply relative to electrolyser).

At present, it’s “not yet clear when the tenders for the new €3bn scheme will be held”.

That wasn’t the only billion-euro subsidy approved in Europe this week, with a friendly ‘ja’ also given to Denmark.