EU hydrogen policy mired in complexity

The EU’s policy regime is designed to stimulate both the supply of and demand for hydrogen, but may end up discouraging the corporate appetite for the risk needed to get to FID

The EU is close to finalising a regulatory regime designed to stimulate the growth of its hydrogen economy. But industry figures believe some aspects will have to be revised in the next few years if the bloc wants to boost the sector to compete globally. The EU is home to 201 projects of more than 20MW at the memorandum of understanding stage, according to IEA data, but only 19 projects have taken FID—and none that require offtake from a third party. “In terms of the raw number of projects proposed and announcements, there are many more projects in the EU versus the US. But there are more projects moving to FID in the US,” says Daryl Wilson, executive director of industry body the Hydrogen C