National Hydrogen Program is moving towards transforming Brazil into a global player in renewable energy production

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T&B Petroleum/Press Office 30/12/2022 15:30

The three-year work plan (2023-2025) of the National Hydrogen Program (PNH2), launched on the 15th of this month by the Ministry of Mines and Energy (MME), is an important step towards the development of a competitive low-carbon hydrogen market. carbon in Brazil and helps create conditions to consolidate the country as a world player in the geopolitics of energy transition with green hydrogen (H2V), which is produced from renewable sources such as solar and wind.

The analysis is from the Brazilian Association of Photovoltaic Solar Energy (ABSOLAR). According to the entity, the plan includes crucial aspects for the development of the market in the country, including the technological base, infrastructure and training of the workforce. Above all, it brings guidelines for energy planning, creation of a legal-regulatory framework, opening and growth of the domestic and export markets, and conditions for international cooperation. The plan presented also provides for an annual review to adapt to the maturity of the technology and the market. According to the assessment of the association, which collaborated with the preparation of the plan and had several proposals for actions accepted by the MME, the global H2 market will grow strongly in the coming years, going from a sector worth US$ 110 billion in 2019 to more than US$ 200 billion in a few years, and migrate from a production mainly from fossil sources to H2V.

“Several countries are moving within the scope of this energy vector, as a solution for the decarbonization of economies and production processes and, therefore, the importance of Brazil positioning itself as one of the main producers, in a solid and fast way, in view of the vocation in the country for the production of competitive and scaled renewable energy, in addition to its great potential for domestic demand”, comments Camila Ramos, Vice President of Investment and Green Hydrogen at ABSOLAR.

The executive also emphasizes the need to prioritize renewable sources for hydrogen production, since the entire rationale for the growth of this sector is decarbonization. “Another important point of the plan is the mapping and study of the competitiveness of the low-carbon hydrogen value chain, including as a way to identify opportunities and bottlenecks for Brazil and to identify public policies for incentives”, adds Camila.

Eduardo Tobias, coordinator of ABSOLAR’s Green Hydrogen task force, believes that the plan could be more ambitious in its three-year planning, especially in achieving the goals of decarbonizing the Brazilian economy and contributing to the global energy transition. “The text presented has an agnostic approach in relation to hydrogen production routes, including an agnostic approach to green hydrogen and gray hydrogen (from natural gas without carbon capture). This fact concerns the association as it can encourage and allocate resources to production routes that do not contribute to the decarbonization of the economy”, he points out.

In addition, the plan does not provide for the establishment of H2V production and consumption targets in the next three years. It also does not consider objective and concrete measures to encourage the consumption of renewable fuel in the coming years, replacing the current domestic consumption of hydrogen and derivatives (e.g. ammonia and methanol), produced from fossil fuels and, to a large extent, imported .

“In this sense, ABSOLAR will mobilize its more than 120 associates currently engaged in the H2V Task Force to evaluate, in detail, the proposal of the Triennial Plan and contribute, within the scope of Public Consultation nº 147 of the MME, with proposals for improvements and in the complement of the actions presented”, concludes Tobias.