Review iTanks Live! ‘Waterstof tot Nadenken’

With the iTanks Live! about ‘waterstof tot nadenken’, the opportunities, projects and challenges for the use of hydrogen as a new energy source were examined. The subject is topical, as was apparent from the more than one hundred registrations for this event at Gasunie in Groningen. With introductions and presentations by Hendré Sijbring from Groningen Seaports, Cor Zijderveld from SBE, Rene Schutte from Gasunie and Jan-Jaap Aué from EnTranCe, it became clear that a lot is about to happen in the hydrogen economy. In fact, everything is already happening in different places.

Hydrogen has been widely used for years. But to produce this hydrogen “green” instead of making it from natural gas, much still needs to be done and a lot of investment is needed. For example, to generate 6 to 8 GW of offshore wind energy for the production of hydrogen with electrolysers. And to overcome the price difference between this green hydrogen and “grey” hydrogen, a subsidy is still needed for which there is no green light yet.

That does not mean that nothing needs to happen. €2.8 billion is available for projects and more and more experience is being gained with hydrogen in places where this has not happened before. An interactive map with around 30 projects showed what is already going on and what will happen. For example, the hydrogen pipeline between Dow and Yara in Sluiskil in Zeeland and the new hydrogen-based residential area in Hoogeveen. It is not the question whether it happens but when the next project is started. And for the required knowledge, you can rely on EnTranCe, a center of expertise where scientists and students, companies and governments meet to share knowledge and develop new knowledge together.