Energy: Regina (Confindustria), 5 levers to make Italy a hydrogen hub

A technology that can be a game changer of the national system

A national hydrogen energy strategy as a game changer, to overcome ideological approaches based on the different "colors" of hydrogen and focus instead on reducing greenhouse gas emissions. This is what Aurelio Regina, delegate for Energy and president of the Confindustria Technical Energy Group said in an interview published in the ENEA special issue Planet Hydrogen, online at eai.enea.it.

Regina has identified 5 priority levers to make Italy a hydrogen hub: support research, production and demand, streamline authorizations and promote a hydrogen culture. To this aim, Confindustria presented to the MiSE an Action Plan for hydrogen, joined -as the first Italian employer association-  the European Clean Hydrogen Alliance (ECH2A) and reached agreements with ENEA and other major players. “In this technology we see important potential for the decarbonisation of energy-intensive sectors that use natural gas or for sustainable mobility, particularly in heavy sea or air transport” he said.

But there’s more. Regina believes that  “the exploitation of all sustainable technological options, from mature technologies such as renewables or energy efficiency systems, to developing technologies such as hydrogen or Carbon capture, use and storage is the only way for the old continent to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050.  ”In order to meet this goal ", Regina said," restart  policies should share the common purpose of eliminating bureaucracy bottlenecks, for instance the burdensome authorization practices that, triggered by the so-called NIMBY effect (Non In My Back Yard), hinder the installation of plants for clean energy generation".

As regards investments needed to achieve the new objectives by 2030, Regina pointed out that "preliminary estimates suggest over 500 billion additional euro in the next 10 years". But to understand the future of climate ambitions in the global context, "crucial events will be the G20, to be held in Italy next autumn, and COP 26, jointly managed by our country and the United Kingdom",  Regina said.

The full interview is available at: https://www.eai.enea.it/archivio/pianeta-idrogeno/cinque-priorita-per-fare-dell-italia-un-hub-per-l-idrogeno.html