This week, the most important hydrogen event of the year took place in Rotterdam: the World Hydrogen Congress. More than 10,000 experts and policy makers from across the world came together to exchange knowledge. Energie-Nederland employees Rick van Staveren and IJmert Muilwijk were also present to follow the latest developments: “It’s great to see so many of our members committed to making the hydrogen economy a reality! The ambitions in the Netherlands and Europe are high, but pace and focus on implementation are needed to achieve those ambitions: Tenders for large-scale hydrogen production are needed fast!”

One of the topics was the certification of renewable hydrogen. The Netherlands Enterprise Agency (RVO) is taking the lead in this. From Australia to South Africa, there was interest in what conditions hydrogen must meet to be supplied in Europe as “green” hydrogen.

Along with all the positive developments, there appear to be plenty of concerns at the conference. There are still plenty of chicken-egg conundrums to be broken. For instance, developers must have a nationwide network and access to storage to be able to supply fluctuating production to the industry in a consistent manner. And it’s this network that still needs to be developed. Also, there is uncertainty in many countries still about subsidizing the unprofitable top of more sustainable forms of hydrogen.