French Power Minister Agnès Pannier-Runacher is making an attempt to get EU Power Commissioner Kadri Simson to incorporate nuclear amongst vitality sources for the manufacturing of so-called “inexperienced” hydrogen, in accordance with a letter seen by EURACTIV France.
In Could, the European Union unveiled its REPowerEU programme to quickly scale back dependence on Russian fossil fuels and pace up the inexperienced transition.
The targets listed within the programme embrace producing 10 million tonnes of inexperienced hydrogen by 2030 and importing 10 million tonnes from third international locations that respect the identical environmental and technological requirements.
However in accordance with the French minister, the present guidelines for the manufacturing of inexperienced hydrogen depart little room for the manufacturing of “low-carbon” electrical energy, largely from nuclear.
Nevertheless, given “absolutely the precedence of the following decade for hydrogen, […] the one necessary difficulty is the carbon content material of the hydrogen produced and never the manufacturing vector,” Pannier-Runacher wrote to the European Commissioner.
This places “the achievement of our frequent targets in danger,” Pannier-Runacher added.
In her letter, she additionally took goal on the so-called precept of additionality featured in RepPowerEU, a plan to get rid of Russian vitality imports tabled by the Fee in Could, which shall be carried out following talks between the Fee, the European Parliament and member states on the finish of the yr.
The precept permits electrical energy mixes to be labelled “inexperienced” so long as they comprise greater than 90% of renewables.
It “doesn’t apply nicely to international locations with an electrical energy combine that’s already largely decarbonised, the place the provision of electrical energy by the grid should be handled on an equal footing with direct provides by means of contracts with renewable sources,” Pannier-Runacher wrote.
“Largely decarbonised” mixes just like the French combine, which solely produces 80 gCO2/MWh attributable to its heavy reliance on nuclear energy, must also be exempted, in accordance with the French minister.
Respecting EU minimal requirements
One other concern famous within the letter is the EU’s hydrogen import technique, which in accordance with the French authorities poses a threat of know-how spill-over and imports of hydrogen that don’t adjust to inner EU manufacturing guidelines.
The French authorities are notably anxious by the revised directive on the event of renewable energies, referred to as RED III, which was endorsed by the European Parliament on Wednesday (14 September).
Although draft laws remains to be to be examined in three-way talks between the Council, the Fee and the member states, the French are involved by its provisions stating that EU measures on hydrogen imports shall solely goal at selling “a degree taking part in discipline”.
One other bone of competition is the truth that beneath the directive, public cash can not assist fund electrical energy manufacturing.
Given the local weather urgency, this “appears counterproductive”, Pannier-Runacher stated within the letter. “The event of decarbonised hydrogen should be a possibility to strengthen our European vitality sovereignty,” she wrote.
Not together with low-carbon hydrogen within the RED III Directive is “an especially degraded resolution” for France, she added.
The French minister thus known as on Simson to go away it as much as the member state to introduce low-carbon energies on the identical degree as renewable energies within the combine, so long as this contributes to the discount of fossil vitality consumption.
France using solo
Lobbying for nuclear is thus the secret for France.
However for Jorgo Chatzimarkakis, CEO of Hydrogen Europe, which represents the pursuits of the hydrogen trade in 25 EU international locations, the letter is proof that France is “going solo” and that it’s settling right into a “harmful insular place”.
Interviewed by EURACTIV friday (16 september), he additionally denounced France for being cussed by not making itself “free for the circulation of hydrogen, for instance from Spain to Germany”.
Trade leaders like Chatzimarkakis will not be welcoming France’s present opposition to the MidCat pipeline, which ought to join France and Spain however has been saved on maintain since 2019. French President Emmanuel Macron just lately stated that he would take into account resuming development if he have been satisfied of the pipeline’s usefulness.
France is “not credible for the second”, the CEO added.
[Edited by Zoran Radosavljevic]
