Hydrogen will play a decisive role in the energy transition and in making our industry sustainable. Joint study maps out the financial, technical and regulatory aspects of building an entire hydrogen import chain – from production abroad to delivery via ships and pipelines to Belgium and internal distribution to final industrial users. It is clear that solar and wind will be the renewable energy sources of the future. However, in Belgium and Western Europe, there is not enough wind or solar energy, while other regions in the world in fact have solar and wind energy in abundance. Production of low-carbon electricity is expected to double over the next decades as Europe moves forward to reduce emissions to net-zero by mid-century. But electricity is only expected to represent 53% of the EU’s energy mix by 2050, according to long-term scenarios developed by the European Commission.
Local production of renewable electricity will need to be supplemented by supplies of “green molecules” from countries where wind and solar power can be used to generate renewable hydrogen in abundant quantities. Port of Antwerp is one of the busiest in Europe and has announced plans to become climate neutral by 2050. It is also home to chemical industry giants such as BASF, Ineos, Monsanto, ExxonMobil, and others, which are first in line to become potential users of hydrogen. It will be in the order of magnitude of one billion and more just for the large-scale production of hydrogen abroad. Then the transport to be followed after that, so we’re talking about massive investments. Belgium probably won’t be ready yet to start importing green hydrogen by then. First, electrolysers need to be put in place abroad for the large-scale production of hydrogen, which will probably start happening between 2025 and 2030.