Trump’s Green Hydrogen Loss Is Everyone Else’s Gain

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Dreams of the sparkling green hydrogen industry of the future are withering on the vine in the US, but they are still alive and kicking in other parts of the world. The EU, for example, is vigorously pursuing new opportunities to import the stuff from other countries. Too bad President Trump has blown up a chance for US producers to get a piece of the action, but them’s the breaks.

Pro tip: Next time, don’t vote for the convicted felon.

Green Hydrogen Imports Coming To The EU

Green hydrogen fans have had a tough row to hoe. The industry is still in the early stages, with stubbornly high costs, supply chain gaps, shifting public policies, and buyer resistance among the factors leading some stakeholders to pull back or leave the business altogether.

Still, the nations of Europe are among those depending on green hydrogen to decarbonize heavy industries. The additional attraction of pushing Russia out of the EU energy import picture is also at work.

In addition to domestic production, the EU is leaning on overseas markets to feed its green hydrogen hunger. Among the opportunities to surface on the CleanTechnica radar, Canada is laying plans to export its green hydrogen to Europe through Belgium, and stakeholders in northern Africa are eyeballing a pipeline to the EU through Italy.

In other news, Bloomberg reports that TotalEnergies is planning to import green hydrogen from Brazil to supply its petroleum refineries in Europe.

Then there’s Ukraine, which not a member of the EU — yet. The country officially became a candidate for EU accession in 2022, after Russia’s unprovoked invasion. Ukraine has an ample supply of wind and solar power, as well as copious stocks of biomass for producing green hydrogen. Even with the war raging into its fourth year, Ukraine is still pursuing plans to export hydrogen to the EU through an existing network of pipelines that sprawls around Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Austria, and Germany.

Another Loss For US, Another Gain For EU

The leading green hydrogen producer Air Liquide caused many a tear to shed in the US when it announced a pullback on its green hydrogen commitments. The French firm was initially involved in six new Regional Clean Hydrogen Hubs organized through the US Department of Energy in 2023.

The Hydrogen Hubs program was funded by the 2021 Bipartisan Infrastructure Law with a stipulation to include natural gas with carbon capture, as well as renewables. The law is the law, but the Republican majority in Congress has refused to hold Trump to any law, preferring to dump its responsibilities onto the judicial branch. As a result, nothing was done to stop Trump from suspending the program after he took office on January 20.

Air Liquide, for one, saw the writing on the wall. In February, the company let word slip that it is still committed to the two hubs that incorporate natural gas. However, the company adopted a wait-and-see stance on the other four hubs, in consideration of the abrupt shift in federal energy policy.

But, that was not the end of the green hydrogen story for Air Liquide. Last month the company resurfaced with plans for a 200-megawatt electrolyzer project in Rotterdam and a 250-megawattt facility in the Netherlands. Both projects are aimed at supplying green hydrogen for heavy duty transportation and other industrial uses, in addition to supplying TotalEnergies’ refineries.

Yet Another Green Hydrogen Loss For The US

The similarly named firm Air Products also packed up and took its business elsewhere after Trump took office, though for other reasons. On February 24 the Pennsylvania-based company with a global reach announced that it is shelving plans to build a 35-tonne-per-day liquid green hydrogen facility in Massena, New York, citing an unfavorable decision regarding tax credits and “slower than expected development of a hydrogen mobility market in the region.”

In the same announcement, Air Products also bailed on a sustainable aviation fuel project in California and a carbon monoxide project in Texas. “The decision to exit these three projects will streamline our backlog and focus Company resources on projects that drive value for Air Products’ shareholders,” the company explained.

Among those other value-driving projects is the company’s massive green hydrogen facility in Saudi Arabia, attached to the country’s ambitious NEOM planned city. “The NEOM green hydrogen project in Saudi Arabia is approaching 80 percent completion, with green ammonia production expected to commence at the end of 2026,” Air Products notes.

Saudi Arabia has already lined up Germany as an off-taker for its green hydrogen. Word of the  deal with Germany surfaced in February, and last week it became official.

The Electrolyzer Angle

In another interesting development, on April 1 Reuters was among the news organizations reporting that Belgium tasked its Monarch, King Philippe, to travel to Vietnam with a large entourage for some deal-making in a number of areas including green hydrogen.

The leading Belgian electrolyzer firm John Cockerill took a preliminary step towards investing in a Vietnamese electrolyzer factory during the trip. “A spokesman for the Belgian firm said the agreements were the first step for a possible investment in a Vietnam factory to manufacture pressurised alkaline water electrolysers,” Reuters reported.

As for why all this overseas outreach is going on, that’s easy. There are not enough domestic projects in the pipeline to meet the EU’s ambitious green hydrogen targets.

The US-based energy transition think tank RMI ran the numbers and produced a report last month noting as much. “Executing this vision has proved difficult, with many early expectations — such as rapid progress, cost reductions, and broad offtake applications — now proven to be overly ambitious or unattainable in the short term,” RMI observed.

To get back on track, RMI advises drawing back on the idea of deploying green hydrogen for “low-impact” uses, like heating  buildings or fueling light-duty vehicles, and focus instead on priority areas. “Public and private investments should be directed to steelmaking, fertilizers, refining, aviation, and shipping; sectors where hydrogen provides the most decarbonization value,” RMI states.

“Allocating resources to low-impact uses like heating and light-duty vehicles represents inefficient use of scarce public funds and risks delaying necessary transitions through electrification and energy efficiency measures,” they emphasize.

“It’s time to retire any lingering misconceptions of hydrogen as a Swiss army knife for economy-wide decarbonization,” they add for good measure.

RMI also indicates that the EU will have to import green hydrogen in order to meet its near-term goals, which it is doing. If you can guess how much of that imported product will come from the US, drop a note in the comment thread.

Image (cropped): The EU is seeking more green hydrogen from overseas suppliers, but US producers have been sidelined by a sudden shift in federal energy policy (courtesy of US DOE via CleanTechnica archive).