CleanTechnica•2 days ago
Europe Built Hydrogen Infrastructure Instead of the Power Grid It Needed
Key Takeaway
Successful decarbonization and reliable power for large consumers and developers depend on prioritizing realistic electricity grid investment over speculative infrastructure projects lacking clear demand.
AI Summary
- •Europe invested in a 400 km hydrogen pipeline segment described as 'from nowhere to nowhere' due to a lack of suppliers and offtakers, indicating a significant misallocation of resources.
- •This infrastructure misdirection highlights a critical policy failure to prioritize realistic demand and essential electricity grid development over aspirational, unproven technologies.
- •For developers and large power consumers, this implies that underinvestment in the core electricity grid can lead to future reliability issues, higher power costs, and hinder deep electrification efforts necessary for decarbonization.
- •The article serves as a cautionary tale, emphasizing that successful decarbonization strategies must be grounded in demand realism and robust, proven infrastructure rather than speculative technological bets.
Topics
datacenteremissionsinterconnectpolicysolarstoragetransmissionwind
Article Content
The most important policy lesson from the 400 km European hydrogen backbone segment with no suppliers and no offtakers—a pipeline from nowhere to nowhere—I wrote about recently is that decarbonization succeeds or fails on demand realism, not technological aspiration. Europe knew, as early as the late 2000s, that deep electrification ... [continued] The post Europe Built Hydrogen Infrastructure Instead of the Power Grid It Needed appeared first on CleanTechnica .