Accelerate the transition to a carbon-neutral world through more sustainable solutions. This is the objective of ENGIE, which announced its entry into ABH2 (Brazilian Hydrogen Association), becoming the first company in the energy sector to join the entity.
The goal of this agreement is to advance in the H2V (green hydrogen) segment, one of the group's main growth focuses in the world and in Brazil, as well as to achieve net zero emissions by 2045 – diversifying its operations to new renewable fuels. “We believe that by joining forces with ABH2 we can drive applied research to advance the use of green hydrogen by industry on a commercial scale,” said Koen Langie, Business Development Manager – Green Hydrogen at ENGIE Brasil.
Another focus of the partnership with the association is, in addition to technical-scientific collaboration, professional training. “We need to create human capital in the country to really become capable of developing H2V projects”, added the executive.
For Langie, the hydrogen market in Brazil depends on adequate regulation to develop. In this sense, he said that working with ABH2 and its other associates will provide opportunities to leverage normative and regulatory frameworks in the country, establishing a competitive and attractive business environment for investors.
Read more: Ceará should receive investment of US$ 3,9 billion for green hydrogen project
In this case, ENGIE sees an opportunity in developing solutions for segments such as steel, mining, chemicals, petrochemicals, among others. According to Paulo Emílio Valadão de Miranda, president of ABH2, the entity is participating in meetings with associated companies to capture the needs and encourage the adoption of hydrogen energy technologies in Brazil.
Furthermore, he highlighted that they are working with the EPE (Energy Research Company), the MME (Ministry of Mines and Energy) and the MCTI (Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovations) on topics related to the National Hydrogen Program, which will be developed in this year in Brazil.
“Since last year, in light of the recent growth of the hydrogen sector and increased interest in this energy solution, the association has been connecting with the private sector and companies. This is because this segment has become larger in the last year and interest has been growing”, emphasized Monica Panik, director of institutional relations at ABH2.
“Today we see a tendency to identify investments for large-scale H2V projects to decarbonize various sectors of the economy, especially those that emit the most”, he concluded.
Read more: Green hydrogen could compete with fossil fuels by 2030
Global goal
By 2030, ENGIE plans to develop an installed green hydrogen manufacturing capacity of 4 GW, deploy 700 km of networks dedicated to this technology and operate more than 100 filling stations. The group already has 70 industrial H2V projects in operation (with 20 projects > 50 MW) in 10 countries.
