But why should countries look into hydrogen in general? Here are some advantages:
- It can be produced in a completely climate-neutral way
- It can be extracted from electricity as well as converted back into electricity
- It connects major sectors such as mobility, heat supply and electricity
- It can replace coal and natural gas
- It can be used as a coolant, fuel and heating agent
- Burns cleanly and releases only water and energy without CO2
Looking at Belgium specifically, it is a country that is committed to clean energy solutions such as green hydrogen. On the 29th of October 2021, the federal government adopted its first hydrogen strategy, based on the proposal of Energy Minister Tinne Van der Straeten. A year later, in October 2022, Belgium validated this strategy in order to use hydrogen to make certain applications climate neutral. Additionally, the Belgian government has announced plans to create up to 160 kilometers of hydrogen transport pipelines by 2026 and invest around €400m to ensure that the connection to Germany’s hydrogen pipeline is sped up. The reason for this bilateral deal is to link the important hydrogen supplies of Belgium with the strong demand in Germany, who is now relatively immature when it comes to hydrogen infrastructures. A plan that would be the beginning of “hydrogen cooperation” within Europe.