We caught up with Franc ahead of the event to find out more about what we can expect to hear from his presentation, and what the summit theme means to him.

We’re looking forward to hearing you talk at H2 View’s Virtual Hydrogen Summit Europe 2022. Can you give us a teaser of what we can expect from your presentation? 

We will present how Hy24 aims to act as a catalyst to develop large-scale hydrogen infrastructure, on the entire value chain, from large hydrogen production to refuelling networks and mobility use

Our summit theme is A Climate for Action and Investment: Making Hydrogen Happen. As we move towards scale, now is the time to double down on the action and investment required – widely seen as the last piece of the puzzle for the hydrogen economy. What does this action and investment need to look like in your opinion? 

In order to be on track with the 2050 net zero, an estimated $700bn of investment have to be mobilised by 2030 across the entire hydrogen value chain. We currently have approximately $160bn of projects announced, with different maturity stages.

This leaves us with a >$500bn investment gap that needs to be closed by 2030, notably in new clean hydrogen production for industrial use, hydrogen refuelling infrastructure and fuel cell electric vehicles fleets, and hydrogen distribution networks.

Where do you think the opportunities are for hydrogen? And conversely, where do you think the challenges are? 

Replacing current fossil hydrogen uses with clean hydrogen, to create baseload for new clean hydrogen infrastructure assets, and then leverage these assets to develop new applications, such as for mobility, notably heavy-duty transportation.

Also, renewable imports/exports, as hydrogen allows to harvest renewable electricity where its the most available and competitive, and bring it back to where demand is, whether its for power generation, mobility or industrial uses.

Challenges are on the regulatory environment and the overall timeline to meet our emission reduction ambitions. We are talking about heavy industries and large infrastructure, and these developments take time.

To be on track with 2030 ambitions in terms of renewables and emission reduction, we need to invest now.

What’s one thing you think we need to see to make hydrogen happen? 

We need regulations to align and stabilise that final investment decisions on project can be taken, notably with regards to Renewable requirement Quotas and CO2 emissions pricing/accounting. Many projects are waiting for national/EU regulatory framework and emission reduction targets to be updated and firmed up in order to take Final Investment Decisions.