The Secretary of State for Energy considers that Portugal presents "unique conditions" with the "right resources" and "high competitiveness" to lead the energy transition in Europe and to produce green hydrogen in Europe.
"Portugal will play an active role within this Alliance, it will be an essential element to boost the widespread use of hydrogen", underlined João Galamba, in a statement, announced that the Government will make available up to 40 million euros by 2030 to finance projects within the scope of green hydrogen, and the intention is to repeat this value every year until 2030.
"We want to produce large quantities of green hydrogen, we want to produce them competitively, and we want to have a relevant role in the emerging hydrogen economy aligned with an industrialization strategy", said the Secretary of State.
In addition, Galamba said that he hopes to have the regulatory and legal framework that allows the production, storage, transfer, distribution and consumption of hydrogen before the end of August.
The statements come after Brussels announces a new strategy aimed at boosting the use of this chemical element. The European Commission (EC) presented this Wednesday a strategy for hydrogen in the context of a carbon neutral Europe and the prospects are ambitious: to have up to 40 gigawatts (GW) of production capacity by 2030.
The Brussels plan foresees by 2024 the installation of at least 6 GW in electrolyzers in the European Union, which will produce up to one million tons of renewable hydrogen. This clean fuel will have industry as its main customer, namely chemical companies, which will therefore no longer need fossil fuel to produce the hydrogen they need in their industrial processes.
To create the conditions for increased demand, the Commission also launched a new European Alliance for Clean Hydrogen, which will bring together national authorities, representatives of industry and civil society and the financial sector (through the European Investment Bank). Investment). The idea is that this alliance will make it possible to evaluate the best projects and identify investment opportunities.
The Secretary of State looks at the EC proposal and considers it to match the National Hydrogen Strategy - which plans to install 2 GW of electrolysers that will contribute to 5% of that market - and Portugal's “robust history” in the preference for renewable energies.
In addition, he recalls the project for the conversion of the Sines thermoelectric plant into a new green hydrogen production unit, an initiative that has made Portugal a pioneer among the other Member States that are also part of the new European Alliance for Clean Hydrogen.
