In the context of the energy transition, the opportunity represents thehydrogen “requires the adoption of a cooperative approach between countries”. But not only among the members of the European Union: collaboration must involve the three shores of the Mediterranean; North, East and South. This is the massage contained in the Med & Italian Energy Report 2021, presented today in Brussels and created by Srm, the Intesa San Paolo study centre, in collaboration with the European Commission and the Turin Polytechnic.
According to the report – assuming a scenario of maximum penetration in 2040, in which 25% of the energy is produced from hydrogen – cooperation between the Mediterranean areas would make it possible to make the most of resources. Compared to the opposite approach - the one that aims at European self-sufficiency - the same demand for hydrogen could thus be satisfied saving 36 GW of installed capacity.
This difference, the study points out, would be particularly advantageous in terms of sustainability for the European side, where land in which to install new plants is scarce. In detail, the strategy of self-sufficiency would require the countries of the North Mediterranean to have an installed capacity of 1.464 GW, while that of cooperation would make it possible to stop at 1.304, with a net saving of 160 GW. The situation is the opposite for the eastern and southern shores, where the required installed capacity would rise respectively from 863 to 900 GW and from 790 to 877 GW.
However, the report shows that the cooperative approach would also be beneficial for Middle Eastern and North African countries: "The European industry connected to the exploitation of renewable energies and the production of hydrogen - we read - could support the creation of production sites on the eastern and southern shores of the Mediterranean, favoring a process of transferring skills capable of improving the socio-economic conditions of those areas".
Moreover, if the path of collaboration were chosen, different infrastructures already in operation could be used: “The existing interconnections for the transport of natural gas – concludes the report – they can play a key role in supporting the penetration of hydrogen and the creation of a Mediterranean market for green hydrogen, above all by pursuing the path of transporting hydrogen in the form of a mixture with natural gas”.
