GREEN CLEAN ENERGY
HYDROGEN
HYDROGEN
green electricity from the sea
Hydrogen will play a crucial role in achieving the European and global decarbonisation goals by 2050, as its combustion produces no carbon dioxide emissions. It can be used to power fuel cells in automotive and maritime sectors and can also support the renewables energy sector and the electrical grid, which face increasing non-dispatchable demand with hourly and seasonal variations. For example, during production peaks or grid congestion, surplus electricity that cannot be used could be converted into hydrogen through electrolysis,
utilizing clean renewable energy. This “Green” hydrogen will allow these non-dispatchable resources to benefit from the extensive gas transport network and storage, addressing the challenge of renewable energy intermittency. This process is known as “power-to-gas”.
By introducing a 10% hydrogen blend into the total annual gas transported through the methane network— 70 billion cubic meters of gas per year— it would be possible to inject over 7 billion cubic meters of hydrogen into the network annually. This could reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 5 million tons, equivalent to the total emissions of all vehicles in Emilia Romagna.
Recently, researchers at Stanford University in California have succeeded in extracting hydrogen directly from seawater, eliminating the costly step of first producing distilled water. This breakthrough paves the way for future hydrogen production directly at sea
Renewable gases such as green hydrogen and biomethane will play a central role in the decarbonized energy mix beyond 2050, alongside traditional renewable sources (wind and solar), and we have the expertise and technologies to become leaders in this sector as well.
