“Towards A European Hydrogen Market” Conference: Speakers Flock To Edinburgh

There will be an impressive group of speakers making presentations at the “Towards A European Hydrogen Market” Conference to be held in Edinburgh on Wednesday 17 May 2023.  The one day Conference will take an in-depth look at the import and export of hydrogen in the North Sea Region which has been designated as a key hydrogen import corridor by the European Union. It will look particularly at the export potential of green hydrogen from Scotland and the United Kingdom and the  positive effects that this will have on the development of a European Hydrogen Market.

The Conference will begin  with a presentation from Nigel Holmes, Chief Executive of the Scottish Hydrogen Fuel Cell Association (SHFCA).   He will look at hydrogen co-operation across the North Sea  which strongly features Scotland.  He will be followed by Ivan Cupull,  Hydrogen Policy and Project Manager at the Scottish Government   The Scottish Hydrogen Action Plan was published in December 2022 and Stuart will outline the key role that exports play in the Plan.  The final speak in this session is Oliveiro Iurcovich, the Import/Export Lead at the UK Government’s Department of  Energy Security and Net Zero  who will explain the role of hydrogen exports in the UK Government’s Hydrogen Strategy.

From policy and strategy, the Conference moves on to look at practical actions.  Mark Griffin will look at the work of Scottish Power in relation to exporting hydrogen from Scotland.   There has been much talk of a hydrogen highway between Scotland and mainland Europe and Martyn Tulloch from the Net Zero Technology Centre will be explaining the way in which this Highway will develop.

If national and EU hydrogen strategies are successful, there will have to be export of hydrogen into Europe to service the growing European Hydrogen Economy.  The EU has plans to designate the North Sea as a Hydrogen Import Corridor.  European countries are looking to import from many places and Jamie Warner from CMB Tech will outline their activities in Namibia.

There is much debate about the need for a legal and regulatory structure to support the export of hydrogen and the  conference has a key session on these aspects.  Memoranda of Understanding, Contract for Difference  and other contractual arrangements have been discussed in relation to hydrogen exports.  There are problems with these mechanisms and Charles July from Dentons will look at the legal framework needed to export.   Hydrogen auctions are a mechanism that is being developed in the EU, Germany and the Netherlands and Markus Exenberger from the H2 Global Foundation in Germany will present the work of the Foundation and hydrogen auctions.

There will be issues surrounding the standards of green or low carbon hydrogen including the certification of hydrogen and the emissions involved in the production of low carbon hydrogen.  Paul Young from the TUV-SUD National Engineering Laboratory will explain the issues tied up with the export of hydrogen in regulatory terms.

There will be support for companies wishing to export hydrogen into Europe and Murray Bainbridge from Scottish Development International (SDI) will outline the support from SDI who are very active in a number of EU countries such as Germany.

These are a selection of speakers in the Conference and we will give more information about speakers shortly.  If you would like to book a place please go the European Policy Solutions home page (https://europeanpolicysolutions.com ) and click the seminars button to book and find out more about the Conference.