How hydrogen truly went from an experiment to an energy solution in Brazil

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How hydrogen truly went from an experiment to an energy solution in Brazil – The pace of advances in the green hydrogen area in recent months has impressed Monica Saraiva Panik, director of Institutional Relations at ABH2, the Brazilian Hydrogen Association. One of the pioneers in Brazil in the discussion about the use of this clean source of energy, Panik believes that the slow steps taken by the sector in the last 20 years are experiencing a sudden acceleration. And this new cadence has put Brazil in evidence.

“Until the beginning of this year, Brazil didn’t even appear on the map of potential producers and exporters. From the moment the country showed signs that it would become a player, it grew rapidly in visibility”, Panik analyzes in an interview to the portal.

The clearest signs came last February. That was when the Energy Research Office (EPE) presented the challenges and opportunities of investments in this source in the “Bases for the Consolidation of the Brazilian Hydrogen Strategy” document and thus paved the way for a national plan with strategies. Months later, Ceará announced the creation of a hydrogen hub and, since then, it has attracted investments exceeding 10 billion dollars.

From invisibility to the transformation in industries

The actions didn’t go unnoticed by analysts around the world. In the latest Bloomberg report that analyzes the panorama of this sector, Brazil was named among the 28 markets analyzed as the likely most competitive green H2 producer, along with Argentina and Chile.

It’s a very different scenario from that seen in 1998, when the subject still seemed very experimental and the UNDP, the United Nations Environment Programme, installed hydrogen-powered buses in five countries, including Brazil. Panik coordinated the communication between the institutions involved in the initiative, which ended in 2016.

It took more than twenty years before companies started to get involved in the discussion and to include the topic in their strategic plans, as ABH2 has observed.

“The steel, chemical, mining and fertilizer industries, among others, have realized that hydrogen will not only be a fuel for the transportation sector, but it will also be used on a large scale in the industrial sector”, Panik comments. A considerable part of this notorious advance comes from the efforts of organizations such as ABH2, founded in 2017. Since then, the association has been working on hydrogen research and dissemination, in addition to promoting debates and encouraging cooperation between different sectors and institutions.

The theme also gained impulse with the support of the German-Brazilian Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Rio de Janeiro (AHK Rio) that founded together with the AHK São Paulo the German-Brazilian Green Hydrogen Alliance and has been acting since then strongly in the dissemination of this content and in the connection of international companies with Brazil. In addition to bringing together the latest advances in the area, the portal aims to become a reference on this energy source, clarifying points related to new projects, financing and regulations. Companies also have access to an exclusive area to develop partnerships and businesses and, in this way, advance the Brazilian energy agenda.

Ansgar Pinowski, manager of Innovation and Sustainability at AHK Rio explains that it is noticeable the interest of international companies in the potential for renewable generation that Brazil has and that is needed for the production of green hydrogen. “We are in a virtuous cycle of economic interests generating growth opportunities in hitherto less favored regions,” he comments.

Role in the decarbonization of the economy

Although the possibilities for using hydrogen have already sparked waves of enthusiasm in the past, the current stage is anchored in a clear need: cutting greenhouse gas emissions to halt global warming.

The signing of the Paris Agreement in 2015, ratified by 191 countries that pledged to reduce the load of pollution dumped into the atmosphere, showed that rapid changes are needed to achieve the goal of keeping the planet warming below 2°C. The creation of the Hydrogen Council, in the same year as ABH2, and the studies that came afterwards suggested that hydrogen could help decarbonize several sectors.

From 2018 to 2021, the list of countries that launched their national green hydrogen strategies went from three to over thirty. This leap, for the ABH2 representative, shows that this chemical element was finally understood. “The way of looking at this source has changed: it is not just a fuel, but an energy vector, an energy carrier”, Panik justifies.

A promising future

In view of recent advances, it is essential not to retreat: the path to occupying a permanent position of prominence in exports is through the production of hydrogen through renewable sources, far from fossil fuels. “When the price of green hydrogen is considered, around 70% of it is related to the price of renewable energy. If the sector is already consolidated, as is the case in Brazil, the path is almost ready”, Panik states.

Bloomberg’s forecasts for the future are optimistic. The estimate is that the cost of hydrogen produced from clean energy will fall faster than expected: by 2050, it should be cheaper than the one produced from fossil sources such as natural gas.