The Epstein War Breathes New Life Into Green Hydrogen Industry

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US President Donald Trump’s fear of the Epstein files reached the boiling point on February 28, when he attempted to distract public attention by launching a war on Iran. Now the law of unintended consequences is working overtime. The Epstein case is still alive and kicking, while the war has sent fossil energy costs spiraling upwards. On balance, Trump has made the case for renewables stronger than ever before, with green hydrogen stakeholders potentially among those to benefit.

Natural Gas And The Green Hydrogen Solution

Considering Trump’s boastful bragging about low gasoline prices here in the US, much of the nation’s media attention has focused on the impact of his war on the price of gas and diesel at the pump, and it ain’t pretty. As displayed on the AAA gas tracker, the average cost of gasoline in the US topped $3.60 per gallon as of March 14, far beyond the rosy $2.30 average cited by Trump just two weeks prior.

Over in Europe, the disruption of the global natural gas market has also hit hard, as reflected in a 75% spike in the European natural gas benchmark as of March 11. The war has caused natural gas to rise in the US , too, but Europe has taken the brunt of the blow.

The pain goes beyond the cost of gas for HVAC systems and other appliances. It also ripples into industrial, commercial, industrial, and agricultural users that depend on hydrogen derived from natural gas (or coal, in some cases).

Just a few years ago the UK and the EU were hotspots for an alternative supply chain in the form of green hydrogen, in which renewable electricity is deployed to push hydrogen gas from water. Some attention also focused on extracting sustainable hydrogen from biomass and wastewater, but water electrolysis attracted the main portion of public and private investment dollars.

A more diversified hydrogen supply chain could have buffered European markets from the impact of Trump’s war, but that’s water under the bridge now. The vision of a continent-wide network of green hydrogen facilities failed to materialize as rapidly as once envisioned, with stakeholders laying the blame on unfavorable market conditions and unhelpful policy-making.

A New Breath Of Life For Green Hydrogen

Now that Trump’s war has sent the price of natural gas in Europe on a romp through the upper atmosphere, market conditions have changed. It remains to be seen if the policy framework can be righted (here’s one take on that), but in the meantime some green hydrogen projects have moved through the pipeline even as others were delayed or abandoned outright.

The situation in Andalusia, Spain, is illustrative. Last week, the Andalusian regional government warned that a lack of clarity has put $6.7 billion USD (€6.2bn) in green hydrogen investments at risk. “Regional president Juanma Moreno argues the region has the renewables, ports and industry to lead southern Europe’s hydrogen sector — but warns delays are already slowing projects,”  the news organization Fuel Cell Works reported on March 12.

Meanwhile, though, a joint venture between the firms H2Pro and Doral Hydrogen is moving ahead with plans for a 50-megawatt, off-grid green hydrogen project in Extremadura, Spain. “The project is expected to be the first ever to produce hydrogen entirely from off-grid solar power for blending into the existing natural gas pipeline operated by Enagás,” the two partners explained in a press release published March 11.

The project’s contribution to the green hydrogen industry is H2Pro’s unique electrolyzer system, purpose-built to run on solar power while avoiding the expense incurred by conventional electrolyzers. “The core issue is that conventional electrolyzers were not built to consume cheap renewable electricity. These systems were designed for steady baseload power, not volatility,” H2Pro and Doral explain.

“To avoid serious membrane and system degradation, dangerous gas crossover, and low efficiencies at partial loads, they are forced to rely on expensive battery or grid backup, resulting in tremendous costs from electricity consumption,” the partners elaborate.

More Green Hydrogen For Europe

If you caught that thing about blending into an existing natural gas pipeline, that has been a matter of debate in the hydrogen field. Hydrogen pipelines are commonplace, but dropping hydrogen into natural gas infrastructure is not.

Be that as it may, at a later stage, the plan calls for the Extremadura project to connect with the forthcoming H2Med hydrogen pipeline, which aims to leverage wind and solar energy in the Iberian peninsula to produce green hydrogen for export elsewhere in Europe.

They better act fast, because the competition is heating up. Ukraine has been pitching itself as a green hydrogen supplier to other European nations, and Morocco is moving forward with a green hydrogen-to-ammonia project between the Spanish firm Moeve and the Moroccan independent power producer TAQA Morocco. That project may face a territorial complication, but the World Bank is among those foreseeing other opportunities in Morocco, citing the nation’s seaports and its “abundant renewable resources and proximity to European markets.”

Meanwhile, Back In The USA

Over here in the US, just a few years ago, the wheels were in motion to expand and diversify the nation’s supply of hydrogen through the new “Regional Clean Hydrogen Hubs” program, authorized by Congress with a $7 billion funding pot carved out of the 2021 Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. Some of the funds were assigned to natural gas with carbon capture, but the bulk of the program aimed at kickstarting the green hydrogen supply chain in various parts of the country, including biomass resources as well as water electrolysis.

That, too, is water under the bridge. Since taking office on January 20 last year, Trump has systematically — and illegally — withdrawn funding from green hydrogen projects among other renewable energy programs. Those actions have been challenged in court with some success, for example in the case of the offshore wind industry. However, the damage has been done, and the Regional Clean Hydrogen Hubs program is a shell of its former self.

That’s too bad for Trump’s favorite people and most loyal voting block — namely, farmers. The war in Iran has hit them with higher fuel costs on top of other Trump-induced woes, including tariffs, labor shortages, and the loss of social safety nets benefiting rural communities. Now the inflationary impact of the war is rippling into the global fertilizer industry, too. If only US farmers could tap into a local, economical source of sustainable fertilizer produced with green hydrogen…. Oh, wait….

Image: A new green hydrogen electrolyser system that is purpose-built to run on off-grid solar power will be showcased in Spain, eventually contributing to the country’s plans for exporting sustainable H2 to the rest of Europe (courtesy of H2Pro via prnewswire.com).