National hydrogen strategy: objectives and incentives for the development of the industry

The date to be circled in red is the end of July.That is when, barring any further postponements, thenational hydrogen strategy put together by the inter-ministerial technical round table set up by the Minister for the Environment and Energy Security, Gilberto Pichetto Fratin , should be finalised, with the aim of exploiting the national potential in terms of hydrogen production and developing the related supply chain. This is a much-awaited step for the sector, since the last attempts to set a course on this front date back to the Conte II government when, with the then Minister for Economic Development, Stefano Patuanelli , ad hoc guidelines were drawn up in late 2020.

Now, therefore, Pichetto Fratin is aiming to fill the gap by completing the other piece, on which the industry's expectations are very high, namely that of the decree scheme that will set new incentives for renewable hydrogen and biohydrogen and whose finalisation is expected by the end of the year. This is a crucial junction for the future competitiveness of the energy vector, whose costs in the renewable declination are currently not advantageous compared to other sources. Hence the need to carefully calibrate incentives so as to allow hydrogen, whose contribution is considered crucial for decarbonisation, to fully take off.

It is no coincidence that, while waiting to establish the fundamental pillars of its development within the national strategy, in the National Integrated Energy and Climate Plan (Pniec) sent to Brussels at the end of June, the ministry anticipated some forecasts, based on the specific targets on renewable hydrogen and renewable fuels of non-biological origin outlined in the Red III directive, which aims to increase the share of renewables in the European energy mix, as well as the RefuelEU Aviation and FuelEU Maritime regulation proposals, which instead aim to increase the use of sustainable fuels for aircraft and ships.The projections for hydrogen use in industry, reported in the Pniec, therefore say that around 330 ktoe (thousand tonnes of oil equivalent) of renewable, bio and non-bio hydrogen will be needed to reach the sectoral target in 2030. For transport, on the other hand, a total consumption of about 390 ktoe of renewable hydrogen is estimated.

According to Pniec, it is then important to assess the need to promote the use of low-carbon hydrogen as a vector to decarbonise hard-to-abate sectors and transport, especially shipping and aviation, in combination with the use of CCS (carbon capture and storage). Overall, the obligations for the use of renewable hydrogen by 2030 would amount to 0.25 million tonnes per year of consumption, against which 'it is estimated that at least 80 per cent of the aforementioned demand will be produced domestically, while the remainder will be imported'. And, to cover this demand, the government's plan considers a (electrical) capacity of about 3 gigawatts of electrolysers, the electrochemical devices that use the electrolysis of water, i.e. the decomposition of water into its basic components, to produce hydrogen.

An important chapter for hydrogen, therefore, which is also at the centre of one of the actions put in place by the National Recovery and Resilience Plan on this front. It must be said that the Ministry for the Environment and Energy Security manages a total of EUR 2.3 billion in resources spread over several lines of action to support the creation and expansion of hydrogen distribution infrastructure, given Italy's strategic location, and to increase the production of green hydrogen.