Only hydrogen can tame the wind and the sun

“Last year, wind and solar became the EU’s largest electricity source. While their intermittence remains a challenge, hydrogen can help to address it.”

The energy sector is at a major turning point. Fossil-fuel supremacy has given way to a new world driven by a common imperative: achieving carbon neutrality by 2050.

The war in Ukraine has accelerated what the fight against global warming made inevitable. CO2 emissions from the combustion of fossil fuels now account for two-thirds of greenhouse gas emissions. Western Europe's dependence on Russian exports, combined with rising energy prices, has made the "pre-war" system unworkable.

In 2022, global energy transition investments equalled those relating to fossil fuels. Time is short, and we will need to combine all available decarbonization solutions. As with any revolution, the transition from the old world to the new brings hope. By allying renewable and nuclear energy with hydrogen, and in the medium-term with natural gas and its liquid form LNG, we can finally achieve an energy mix that is sustainable, available and affordable.

We know what this new world looks like. We now need to invent, scale up and deploy its solutions.

We must build the connections to unlock the full potential of this promise for future generations. This requires the accelerated deployment of renewable energies to continue. Last year, wind and solar became the EU’s largest electricity source. While their intermittence remains a challenge, hydrogen (and its derivatives, ammonia, methanol and e-NG) can help address it.

By transforming electrons into hydrogen molecules that can be stored and transformed, we can tame the wind and the sun; this is a Promethean moment for the modern world, unlocking the decarbonization journey of many different sectors. This means hydrogen and its derivatives must be produced with decarbonized processes, either through water electrolysis with renewable or nuclear power, or through the transformation of natural gas coupled with carbon capture.

Connecting our world to hydrogen demands that all players across the industry make an effort. The announcement of new electrolyser ‘gigafactories’, though necessary, are not enough on their own to deliver the necessary system-wide change – which must also embrace hydrogen derivatives that are already compatible with existing infrastructures. This emerging industry needs to build the expertise, processes and standardized tools to accelerate the development of hydrogen further, while reducing costs.

In doing so, France and Europe can rely on their engineers and experts to build the bridges between electron and molecule, between research and industry, between startups and established companies, and between the public and private sectors. It is a challenge not merely for one industrial sector, but for all humankind. Hydrogen’s economic viability depends on its deployment on a large scale, backed by a global market and an affordable low-carbon electricity offering. This win-win approach is the only way to deliver effective climate policy while minimizing the impact on consumers' purchasing power. This moment offers Europe a unique opportunity to reinvigorate its industry, much as the U.S. Inflation Reduction Act is doing across the Atlantic.