Nikos Mantzaris participated in the online event organized by the Institute of Alternative Policies ENA entitled “Possibilities & outlook for green hydrogen“.
The two sessions of the conference, which were attended by a total of nine speakers from academia, industry, the Cyprus energy regulator, politics and environmental organizations and think tanks, were moderated by Nikos Farantouris, Professor of the Jean Monnet Chair & European Studies at the University of Piraeus and Kostis Stampolis, President of the South East European Energy Institute (IENE)
In his speech, Nikos Mantzaris underlined the key role of green hydrogen in achieving the goal of climate neutrality and gave a brief overview of the degree of maturity of hydrogen technologies for use in various sectors of the economy.
He explained that the use of hydrogen in sectors such as transport, buildings and electricity generation is still at an early stage, while its use in various industrial processes, although technologically more mature, does not lead to a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions, given that the hydrogen used is produced from fossil fuels.
Therefore, in order for hydrogen to play the key role it is envisioned to play in the decarbonization of the European economy, a long-term policy is needed, which will stimulate the demand for green hydrogen in multiple applications from industry at the same time, while supporting research and development as well as knowledge sharing.
For the national energy policy, Nikos Mantzaris stressed the need for an immediate revision of the National Energy and Climate Plan (NECP) to make it compatible with the increased EU climate ambition, which de facto leads to increased RES and energy storage targets -including hydrogen technologies- by 2030. Finally, he proposed the synchronization of the revised NECP with the emerging national hydrogen strategy and the Just Transition Development Plan for the country’s lignite regions, regarding hydrogen targets, which should now be quantified, as is the case in other EU countries.
You can watch the whole event
And the presentation by Nikos Mantzaris
You can also read about the main characteristics, the comparative advantages and disadvantages of the main electricity storage technologies, as well as the opportunities for their financing through the new EU budget are presented in the technology review by The Green Tank.