Executives warn that Europe could lose its nascent green hydrogen industry to China
The fledgling green hydrogen industry in Europe is calling on the EU to introduce "made-in-Europe" requirements for spending public money on the sector. They warn that without the support needed to scale up quickly, the domestic producers will be overtaken by their Chinese competitors. In 2025, the industry suffered a severe blow as many projects were cancelled or postponed due to high energy prices in Europe and the cheaper hydrogen derived from fossil fuels. Brussels hopes that green hydrogen will help chemical, steel and fertiliser manufacturers reduce emissions. More than 90% of hydrogen used by European industry today comes from fossil fuels. Kim Hedegaard is the CEO of Power-to-X, a Danish engineering company Topsoe. He said that manufacturers supported EU plans for "made-in-Europe" rules on publicly funded electrolyser purchase. He cited solar panels as an example of a warning if industry does not scale up quickly. In the 2000s, Europe's solar panel production fell as Chinese manufacturing costs dropped. The region became heavily dependent on imports.
Prioritizing European Manufacturers "You can use this as an example to what will happen to European Electrolyser Industry if we do not do something else," Hedegaard stated. The European Commission will propose this month a law that would give priority to European manufacturers when it comes to public procurement. This is to tap into the 2.5 trillion euro spent by?EU public authorities on goods and service each year. The?European Commission had previously published a draft proposal that included electrolysers. The plans are being resisted by some companies and governments. Officials are also still negotiating over whether or not "made in Europe", which includes non-EU countries like Turkey, should be included.
Hakon Volldal is the CEO of Norwegian electrolyser maker Nel Hydrogen. He said that European firms are missing out on big-scale projects, such as those in progress in?China. Public contracts could be used to secure these large-scale initiatives.
He said: "We are the technology leaders, but until we can deploy this technology and learn from it, they will catch up and race past us."
Nicolas de Coignac is the CEO of John Cockerill's hydrogen division.
Nadia Calvino, President of the European Investment Bank, has this month highlighted electrolysers as a "low-dependency sector" in which Europe can still remain competitive. She wrote in a letter to be seen by the EU leaders meeting on Thursday that continued investment will be needed in EU value chains.
China is already home to 60% of the global capacity for electrolysers. According to the Oxford Institute for Energy Studies, European firms still dominate their domestic market. They have supplied more than 80% sales to European projects by 2022. There are signs, however, that Chinese firms are making progress. Brussels has tightened the access to 2024 for Chinese-supplied hydrogen projects to EU's main support fund after discovering that many previous beneficiaries were planning to use cheaper equipment from abroad. Reporting by Kate Abnett Mark Potter (Editing)
(source: Reuters)
