Vision for green hydrogen: Annemarie Manger 'Finalise the business case for green hydrogen now'

The industry is essential to the revenue model of the Netherlands. The sector provides many direct and indirect employment opportunities and is a driver of innovation. With the energy transition, we are at an exciting tipping point. We want to maintain our country's industrial position and need to go 'green' at the same time. It is a very tricky puzzle in which everything hinges on speed. Let us speed up with both green hydrogen and with developments in the manufacturing industry that are necessary for this.

Speed is of the essence

How are we going to reduce annual CO2 emissions by 40 million tons? That is the huge task that the industry in the Netherlands is facing. Looking through my eyes, I can already see the solution in front of me. It will eventually be a mix of electrification and green hydrogen. For instance, the old blast furnace technology will disappear. Natural gas-based technologies can already run 70-80% on hydrogen. But for many other industrial processes, we won’t initially be able to do without CO2 capture and storage either.

Speed is of the essence

The path to a green future will not be easy. It will involve very large investments. While the Netherlands is a major producer of grey hydrogen, the question is whether we will take the steps towards blue and eventually green hydrogen with sufficient speed. It is exciting whether companies are sufficiently stimulated to make that switch and thus willing to invest in a sustainable European industry. For this, we should not only rely on CO2 pricing, but also offer a financial incentive to those who dare to lead the way. This is, for instance, a role for GroenvermogenNL. The industry’s sense of urgency is growing: ‘time is running out’.

The Netherlands' good position

What makes me optimistic is the unique position of the Netherlands. Quite literal: our location on the North Sea means we have plenty of opportunities to produce green hydrogen with offshore wind and to import green hydrogen – given our current footprint, even the latter is necessary. We can use the natural gas network for transport and salt caverns for storing green hydrogen. In addition, we have the knowledge and innovation power to kick-start the green hydrogen economy at lightning speed.

‘The Netherlands has the knowledge and innovation power to launch the green hydrogen economy at lightning speed’

Completing the business case

Again, moving towards such a sustainable economy does not happen by itself. On the contrary. If we want the industry to switch to green hydrogen, we have to make the business case for them by turning numerous buttons at the same time. Think about laws and regulations, about licensing policy, about sufficient sales for new products based on green hydrogen. But most importantly, pay attention to technological development and the training, retraining and further education of sufficient professionals.

Listening to the industry

At GroenvermogenNL, we push many buttons to accelerate the use of green hydrogen in industry. We are committed to research and development, to the human capital agenda and to pilots and demonstrations to discover and show what really works. It is wonderful that, as a board member, I am so closely involved in this transition. Because of my roots in the industry, I am well placed to listen to companies to find out where their bottlenecks are and how we can respond to them with the entire team of GroenvermogenNL. This is how we give the industry, the Netherlands and our climate the push towards a sustainable future.