Thread by @EnergyRuud

The criteria for the production of #renewablehydrogen have been adopted. You can find the press release here:

ec.europa.eu/commission/pre…

The delegated acts define the criteria and methodology to determine whether gaseous hydrogen or hydrogen-based fuels can be classified as a “renewable fuels of non-biological origin” #rfnbo 1/21

Hydrogen qualified as a #rfnbo can already count towards the European renewables targets in transport, as well as the proposed #rfnbo targets for industry and transport discussed as part of the Fit-for-55 package 2/23

The Renewable Energy Directive already set out in 2018 that an #rfnbo needs to meet a greenhouse gas emission savings of 70% compared to fossil fuels, or produce less than 3,4 kg CO2eq/kg hydrogen when arriving at the consumer (life cycle emissions) 3/23

Hydrogen producers that use renewable electricity to produce #rfnbo may count this electricity as having 0 CO2 emissions at the point of production 4/23

How to do this? Hydrogen producers can connect their electrolysers to new unsubsidised renewable power generation assets (max. 36 months old) 5/23

Hydrogen producers can also sign a renewables power purchase contract with a local new unsubsidised renewables asset, and 2) produce the renewable hydrogen at the hours that the renewables asset is producing electricity 6/23

Hydrogen producers can also combine both cases: get renewable power from a directly coupled renewables asset AND get renewable power through the grid using a renewables power purchase agreement 7/23

On top of this, hydrogen producers can always take grid electricity in hours of expected curtailment and convert the volume of otherwise curtailed electricity into renewable hydrogen 8/23

Until 2030, when hydrogen infrastructure might not be available yet, hydrogen producers are allowed to match the volume of purchased renewable electricity and the volume of renewable hydrogen produced on a monthly basis 9/23

Member States are allowed to require hourly matching from July 2027 for hydrogen production within their territory 10/23

Furthermore, hydrogen producers that install and start the operation of their electrolysers before 1 January 2028 are allowed to sign long-term power purchase contracts (until 2038) with existing and/or subsidies renewables assets 11/23

Hydrogen producers that are located in bidding zones with a very low-carbon intensity are also allowed to sign renewables power purchase agreements with existing and/or subsidised renewables assets 12/23

Finally, hydrogen producers located in bidding zones with a renewable electricity share higher than 90% can take grid electricity and qualify it as renewable hydrogen. The number of annual running hours will be constrained by the share of renewables in their electricity mix 13/23

In all other cases, hydrogen producers need to account for the CO2 emissions associated with the electricity that they consume. There are three options to calculate the CO2 intensity of grid electricity, and hydrogen producers need to choose one of the three options 14/23

If the CO2 emissions of the electricity mix is sufficiently low to meet the CO2 threshold, hydrogen producers can qualify a proportion of the hydrogen that they produce as a #rfnbo. This proportion is equivalent to the amount of renewable power in their electricity mix 15/23

These rules to qualify the electricity consumed by electrolysers as renewable electricity will apply fto both European and international hydrogen producers that want to produce #rfnbo that count towards the renewables targets within the EU 16/23

Furthermore, the specific methodology to calculate the CO2 footprint of #rfnbo along the full value chain is laid out in the DA on greenhouse gas emissions savings 17/23

This includes the CO2 emissions associated with the transport, distribution and end-use of the #rfnbo 18/23

In case a renewable hydrogen is used to produce fuel that also contains CO2 (ie, methanol, e-fuels or synthetic methane), the source of this CO2 needs to be biogenic or from direct air capture after 2041 19/23

To ensure transparency, all #rfnbo production methodologies and their CO2 footprint will need to be certified. This can be done by independent organisations, but their certification schemes will need to be approved by the European Commission 20/23

Once a hydrogen producer uses these organisations to certify its #rfnbo, this renewable hydrogen can be traded across countries and can be used to meet the targets in the EU Member States 21/23

The finalisation of these Delegated Acts complete the regulatory measures announced in the European Hydrogen Strategy. You can find an overview here: energy.ec.europa.eu/topics/energy-… 22/23

Member States and the European Parliament have now two months to reject these rules. If not rejected, the rules would then immediately come into force 23/23