Hydrogen is a fuel that can replace natural gas and oil, accelerating decarbonisation processes. However, unlike fossil fuels, it cannot be obtained directly from nature, which poses a series of challenges for its production, transport and storage. Even so, the EU considers it a fundamental pillar towards its climate neutrality goals and estimates that, by 2050, the EU will be able to use it as an alternative to fossil fuels, hydrogen will generate 25% of all European energy. Until then, it plans to invest 500 billion euros to incentivise the adoption of this technology, according to Bloomberg. In addition, green hydrogen could accelerate the decarbonisation of several industrial processes, such as ammonia manufacturing and oil refining.
Green hydrogen presents a series of very relevant opportunities in the transport and energy sectors, once again as an "energy vector" and store of intermittent renewable energies. But it is also particularly interesting for the chemical industry, a leading sector in Spain that could drastically reduce its CO2.
Hydrogen will also play a key role as an "energy vector", a way of storing energy for later release in a controlled manner. One of the biggest problems with renewable energies is that many of them, such as solar and wind energy, for example, are intermittent. This is why we need to develop technologies that allow us to store surplus production for those times when the power generated decreases. Again, batteries seem a logical solution to the problem, but they pose serious difficulties.
