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Yahoo
10 hours ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Green hydrogen retreat poses threat to emissions targets
By Pietro Lombardi, Nina Chestney and Riham Alkousaa MADRID/LONDON/BERLIN (Reuters) -Green hydrogen developers are cancelling projects and trimming investments around the world, raising the prospect of longer than targeted reliance on fossil fuels. The challenges facing the sector have exposed its initial ambitions as unrealistic. Hard-to-electrify industries that were seen as ideal candidates for green hydrogen, such as steelmaking and long-distance transportation, have found that transition to the low-carbon fuel looks prohibitively expensive. The gap between ambition and reality in Europe shows the extent of the reset happening within the industry, said Jun Sasamura, hydrogen manager at research company Westwood Global Energy. Only about a fifth of planned hydrogen projects across the European Union are likely to come online by the end of the decade, he said. That equates to roughly 12 GW of production capacity against an EU target of 40 GW, Westwood Global Energy data shows. "In the current state, I really don't see the EU 2030 (hydrogen production) target being reached," he added. INFLATED EXPECTATIONS Companies say that high costs and a lack of demand for green hydrogen have rendered many plans unprofitable. "Green hydrogen was an inflated expectation that has turned into a valley of disillusionment," said Miguel Stilwell d'Andrade, chief executive of Portuguese power company EDP. "What's missing is the demand. There are 400 million euros ($464.2 million) of subsidies for hydrogen in Spain and Portugal, but we need someone to buy the hydrogen." The company has several projects in advanced stages but cannot move forward because of a lack of buyers, said Ana Quelhas, EDP's hydrogen chief and co-chair of the European Renewable Hydrogen Coalition. Across the border, Spain's Iberdrola has shelved plans to increase capacity at a green hydrogen plant with electrolyser capacity of 20 MW until it finds buyers for additional output, company executive Iban Molina said at an energy event in Madrid. They are among more than a dozen large companies that have trimmed spending or shelved projects across Europe, Asia, Australia and elsewhere in recent years. Companies had scrapped or delayed more than a fifth of all European projects by the end of last year, Westwood Global Energy says. At Aurora Energy Research, Emma Woodward said: "In 2020-2021 we had this view of hydrogen and the fact it was going to be used in almost every sector that hadn't been electrified. "I think we've realised now that there are other, probably more commercially viable, alternatives for lots of sectors. Maybe we don't need as much hydrogen as initially expected." TOO EXPENSIVE Many governments have long supported development of green hydrogen - produced through electrolysis that splits water into hydrogen and oxygen using electricity from renewables - to help to decarbonise energy, transport and industry. Countries including Australia, Britain, Germany and Japan announced ambitious investment strategies they hoped would bring down costs and eventually create a profitable green hydrogen sector that would no longer need support. Production, however, remains more expensive than for natural gas and other fossil fuel-based alternatives, said Minh Khoi Le, Rystad Energy's head of hydrogen research. It is at least three times more expensive than natural gas as a fuel for power generation, for example, and twice as expensive as grey hydrogen. The latter is produced from natural gas and coal and is already used in industries such as oil refining and production of ammonia and methanol. Costs could fall by 30-40% in 10-15 years if equipment prices decline and the broader supply chain scales up, he added, while Aurora's Woodward and Westwood Global Energy's Sasamura said that green hydrogen is unlikely to become competitive before then. Only 6 million metric tons per annum (mtpa) of low-carbon hydrogen capacity - including green and blue hydrogen, which is made from gas - is either operational or under construction globally, consultancy Wood Mackenzie says. This is well below the 450 mtpa the consultancy says is needed as part of the global push for net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. The EU has committed to reducing emissions by 55% from 1990 levels by 2030, en route to the 2050 target. BUYERS PRICED OUT THE MARKET The industry had counted on sectors such as steel, oil refining, cement and transport to be among the first buyers, but the expected demand has failed to materialise. German die forging company Dirostahl, which makes components for wind turbines, ships and oil and gas drill pipes, is dependent on furnaces fired by natural gas and is looking for a replacement. However, green hydrogen is still too expensive. Offers for the fuel do not come below 150 euros per megawatt hour (MWh) while natural gas can be bought for 30-35 euros/MWh, said Chief Executive Roman Diederichs. "It simply doesn't work. You might not want to call it economic suicide, but in practice it would be just that. We'd be completely uncompetitive," he said. Prices remain elevated because of the high cost of electrolysers needed for large-scale production, infrastructure bottlenecks and increased energy costs resulting from rules on what constitutes green hydrogen. Some European countries have scaled back their ambitions. Italy has recently shifted more than 600 million euros in post-pandemic funds from hydrogen to biomethane. France lowered its 2030 hydrogen electrolysis capacity target by more than 30% in April and Portugal has cut its electrolysis capacity ambitions by 45%. The Dutch government last year made sharp cuts to funds it had originally reserved for green hydrogen projects and battery development, shifting the focus of its climate fund toward the planned construction of two new nuclear plants. Several players in Australia, meanwhile, have scaled back or withdrawn from projects despite more than A$8 billion ($5.2 billion) of pledged government support. Projects that are going ahead also face delays. Rystad Energy analysts estimate that 99% of A$100 billion of projects announced for the next five years have failed to progress beyond the concept or approval stage. INFRASTRUCTURE DIFFICULTIES Another problem is that hydrogen is difficult to store because it requires high-pressure tanks, extremely low temperatures and tends to leak, making for risky transportation through old gas pipelines while awaiting new infrastructure. Spain hopes to build a 2,600 km (1,615 mile) hydrogen network and connect it to another project - the trans-European H2Med link - from the Iberian region to northwest Europe. The Spanish network should be operational around 2030, but delays of two or three years are likely for broader European infrastructure, said Arturo Gonzalo, CEO of Spanish gas grid operator Enagas. "Infrastructure is not something that happens when the market has already taken off; it is something that has to happen for the market to take off," he said. ($1 = 0.8617 euros) ($1 = 1.5340 Australian dollars)
Reuters
10 hours ago
- Business
- Reuters
Focus: Green hydrogen retreat poses threat to emissions targets
MADRID/LONDON/BERLIN, July 23 (Reuters) - Green hydrogen developers are cancelling projects and trimming investments around the world, raising the prospect of longer than targeted reliance on fossil fuels. The challenges facing the sector have exposed its initial ambitions as unrealistic. Hard-to-electrify industries that were seen as ideal candidates for green hydrogen, such as steelmaking and long-distance transportation, have found that transition to the low-carbon fuel looks prohibitively expensive. The gap between ambition and reality in Europe shows the extent of the reset happening within the industry, said Jun Sasamura, hydrogen manager at research company Westwood Global Energy. Only about a fifth of planned hydrogen projects across the European Union are likely to come online by the end of the decade, he said. That equates to roughly 12 GW of production capacity against an EU target of 40 GW, Westwood Global Energy data shows. "In the current state, I really don't see the EU 2030 (hydrogen production) target being reached," he added. Companies say that high costs and a lack of demand for green hydrogen have rendered many plans unprofitable. "Green hydrogen was an inflated expectation that has turned into a valley of disillusionment," said Miguel Stilwell d'Andrade, chief executive of Portuguese power company EDP ( opens new tab. "What's missing is the demand. There are 400 million euros ($464.2 million) of subsidies for hydrogen in Spain and Portugal, but we need someone to buy the hydrogen." The company has several projects in advanced stages but cannot move forward because of a lack of buyers, said Ana Quelhas, EDP's hydrogen chief and co-chair of the European Renewable Hydrogen Coalition. Across the border, Spain's Iberdrola ( opens new tab has shelved plans to increase capacity at a green hydrogen plant with electrolyser capacity of 20 MW until it finds buyers for additional output, company executive Iban Molina said at an energy event in Madrid. They are among more than a dozen large companies that have trimmed spending or shelved projects across Europe, Asia, Australia and elsewhere in recent years. Companies had scrapped or delayed more than a fifth of all European projects by the end of last year, Westwood Global Energy says. At Aurora Energy Research, Emma Woodward said: "In 2020-2021 we had this view of hydrogen and the fact it was going to be used in almost every sector that hadn't been electrified. "I think we've realised now that there are other, probably more commercially viable, alternatives for lots of sectors. Maybe we don't need as much hydrogen as initially expected." Many governments have long supported development of green hydrogen - produced through electrolysis that splits water into hydrogen and oxygen using electricity from renewables - to help to decarbonise energy, transport and industry. Countries including Australia, Britain, Germany and Japan announced ambitious investment strategies they hoped would bring down costs and eventually create a profitable green hydrogen sector that would no longer need support. Production, however, remains more expensive than for natural gas and other fossil fuel-based alternatives, said Minh Khoi Le, Rystad Energy's head of hydrogen research. It is at least three times more expensive than natural gas as a fuel for power generation, for example, and twice as expensive as grey hydrogen. The latter is produced from natural gas and coal and is already used in industries such as oil refining and production of ammonia and methanol. Costs could fall by 30-40% in 10-15 years if equipment prices decline and the broader supply chain scales up, he added, while Aurora's Woodward and Westwood Global Energy's Sasamura said that green hydrogen is unlikely to become competitive before then. Only 6 million metric tons per annum (mtpa) of low-carbon hydrogen capacity - including green and blue hydrogen, which is made from gas - is either operational or under construction globally, consultancy Wood Mackenzie says. This is well below the 450 mtpa the consultancy says is needed as part of the global push for net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. The EU has committed to reducing emissions by 55% from 1990 levels by 2030, en route to the 2050 target. The industry had counted on sectors such as steel, oil refining, cement and transport to be among the first buyers, but the expected demand has failed to materialise. German die forging company Dirostahl, which makes components for wind turbines, ships and oil and gas drill pipes, is dependent on furnaces fired by natural gas and is looking for a replacement. However, green hydrogen is still too expensive. Offers for the fuel do not come below 150 euros per megawatt hour (MWh) while natural gas can be bought for 30-35 euros/MWh, said Chief Executive Roman Diederichs. "It simply doesn't work. You might not want to call it economic suicide, but in practice it would be just that. We'd be completely uncompetitive," he said. Prices remain elevated because of the high cost of electrolysers needed for large-scale production, infrastructure bottlenecks and increased energy costs resulting from rules on what constitutes green hydrogen. Some European countries have scaled back their ambitions. Italy has recently shifted more than 600 million euros in post-pandemic funds from hydrogen to biomethane. France lowered its 2030 hydrogen electrolysis capacity target by more than 30% in April and Portugal has cut its electrolysis capacity ambitions by 45%. The Dutch government last year made sharp cuts to funds it had originally reserved for green hydrogen projects and battery development, shifting the focus of its climate fund toward the planned construction of two new nuclear plants. Several players in Australia, meanwhile, have scaled back or withdrawn from projects despite more than A$8 billion ($5.2 billion) of pledged government support. Projects that are going ahead also face delays. Rystad Energy analysts estimate that 99% of A$100 billion of projects announced for the next five years have failed to progress beyond the concept or approval stage. Another problem is that hydrogen is difficult to store because it requires high-pressure tanks, extremely low temperatures and tends to leak, making for risky transportation through old gas pipelines while awaiting new infrastructure. Spain hopes to build a 2,600 km (1,615 mile) hydrogen network and connect it to another project - the trans-European H2Med link - from the Iberian region to northwest Europe. The Spanish network should be operational around 2030, but delays of two or three years are likely for broader European infrastructure, said Arturo Gonzalo, CEO of Spanish gas grid operator Enagas. "Infrastructure is not something that happens when the market has already taken off; it is something that has to happen for the market to take off," he said. ($1 = 0.8617 euros) ($1 = 1.5340 Australian dollars)
Daily Mirror
a day ago
- Business
- Daily Mirror
DWP issues new update for benefit claimants owed £1,000s in compensation
The payments are being issued to people who received certain disability benefits such as Employment and Support Allowance, who lost disability premiums after they were moved to Universal Credit The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has issued an update for disability benefit claimants who could be owed thousands of pounds in compensation. The payments are being issued to people who received certain disability benefits such as Employment and Support Allowance, who lost disability premiums after they were moved to Universal Credit before January 2019. As a result, some people lost out on severe disability premium (SDP) and enhanced disability premium (EDP). Law firm Leigh Day challenged this loss of income in court and argued that some people saw their payments drop by up to £180 a month. The DWP agreed to compensate for the loss of income, which Leigh Day estimates could be worth in excess of £5,000 per person. However, the DWP has now confirmed around 13,000 cases are yet to be processed and cleared. In its annual report published earlier this month, it said: "Unfortunately, some underpayments may be owed to customers who no longer have an active ESA claim and restrictions in data make it difficult to identify, assess and correct these errors." The DWP said it expects the remaining cases will be resolved by September. It is estimated that 57,000 people were affected by the issue and the total cost of the repayment exercise is expected to be £452million. Leigh Day secured a settlement for 275 claimants following its High Court challenge and these people were awarded between £200 and £3,000 in a damages. A DWP spokesperson told the Independent: 'We are fully committed to identifying claimants that are owed arrears and providing the financial support to which they are entitled as quickly as possible, with the majority of these cases having already been resolved. "We are clear that errors like this one should not happen and have already taken action to avoid future errors.' In a statement issued earlier this year, Leigh Day solicitor Ryan Bradshaw said: 'I am glad to have settled this claim on behalf of my clients. However, there are thousands of others who have been similarly affected who have not been in a position to bring a claim like this. 'They too will have experienced the loss of £180 a month after they were moved from legacy benefits on to universal credit in the years before January 2019. They too will have suffered unnecessary stress.' It comes as the DWP is finishing moving everyone on legacy benefits to Universal Credit. The benefits being replaced by Universal Credit are: Housing Benefit, Income-related Employment and Support Allowance, Income-based Jobseeker's Allowance, Child Tax Credit, Working Tax Credit and Income Support.
Scottish Sun
a day ago
- Business
- Scottish Sun
Date when thousands of Universal Credit households will get £1,000s back after DWP claim error
We reveal more details on the move from old-style benefits to Universal Credit below TO YOUR BENEFIT Date when thousands of Universal Credit households will get £1,000s back after DWP claim error THE Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has confirmed when thousands will get £1,000s back after a major error. The payments are being issued to people who received certain disability benefits such as Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) and were moved to Universal Credit. Advertisement 1 Thousands who moved to Universal Credit are still owed compensation It was found some claimants unfairly lost out on Severe Disability Premiums (SDP) and Enhanced Disability Premiums (EDP) during the transition, resulting in a drop of income. Both premiums offered additional financial support on top of the standard allowance for certain means-tested benefits. Tens of thousands who transferred to Universal Credit and missed out on this protection have now been found to be owed arrears. Around 57,000 people are reportedly thought to be affected by the issue, with the vast majority having now received redress. Advertisement But, the DWP has confirmed around 13,000 cases are yet to be processed and cleared. In its annual report published earlier this month, it said: "Unfortunately, some underpayments may be owed to customers who no longer have an active ESA claim and restrictions in data make it difficult to identify, assess and correct these errors." The department said it was working its way through all the remaining 13,000 cases which should be completed by September. The report added: "We are working to both correct existing errors and to prevent new errors in the new premiums cases." Advertisement The total arrears being paid to the roughly 57,000 claimants who missed out on SDP and EDP is worth £452million. Solicitors Leigh Day, who brought a legal challenge for claimants on disability benefits who didn't receive income protection while moving over to Universal Credit, secured a settle for 275 claimants who list their SDP earlier this year. Stop handing out new cars for FOOD INTOLERANCE says Kemi Badenoch as she demands Labour cut ballooning benefits bill These claimants were awarded between £200 and £3,000 for the loss of income they incurred. We have asked the DWP how the remaining 13,000 people affected by the issue will receive any compensation and will update this story when we have heard back. Advertisement We have also asked how much the approximately 44,000 who have already received compensation got on average. Will I need to move to Universal Credit? The DWP is currently moving everyone from old-style "legacy" benefits onto Universal Credit, through a process known as managed migration. Universal Credit was set up to replace these benefits and the scheme kicked off in November 2022 after a successful pilot in July 2019. As part of the process, households on legacy benefits are sent "migration notices" in the post which tell them how to make the move to Universal Credit as it's not automatic. Advertisement Households must apply for Universal Credit within three months of receiving their managed migration letter. Failing to do this can result in benefits being stopped. Tax credits, income-based jobseeker's allowance, income support and housing benefit (for those under the state pension age) were permanently discontinued in April. The remaining households, currently claiming income-related employment and support allowance (ESA), will be asked to move to Universal Credit by December 2025. Advertisement Can I get help claiming Universal Credit? As well as benefit calculators, anyone moving from legacy benefit to Universal Credit can find help in a number of ways. You can visit your local Jobcentre by searching at There's also a free service called Help to Claim from Citizen's Advice: England: 0800 144 8 444 Scotland: 0800 023 2581 Wales: 08000 241 220 You can also get help online from advisers by visiting, Advertisement Will I be better off on Universal Credit? ANALYSIS by James Flanders, The Sun's Chief Consumer Reporter: Around 1.4million people on legacy benefits will be better off after switching to Universal Credit, according to the government. A further 300,000 would see no change in payments, while around 900,000 would be worse off under Universal Credit. Of these, around 600,000 can get top-up payments (transitional protection) if they move under the managed migration process, so they don't lose out on cash immediately. The majority of those - around 400,000 - are claiming employment support allowance (ESA). Those who move voluntarily and are worse off won't get these top-up payments and could lose cash. Those who miss the managed migration deadline and later make a claim may not get transitional protection. The clock starts ticking on the three-month countdown from the date of the first letter, and reminders are sent via post and text message. There is a one-month grace period after this, during which any claim to Universal Credit is backdated, and transitional protection can still be awarded. Examples of those who may be entitled to less on Universal Credit include: Households getting ESA and the severe disability premium and enhanced disability premium Households with the lower disabled child addition on legacy benefits Self-employed households who are subject to the Minimum Income Floor after the 12-month grace period has ended Either way, if these households don't switch in the future, they risk missing out on any future benefit increase and seeing payments frozen. Do you have a money problem that needs sorting? Get in touch by emailing money-sm@ Plus, you can join our Sun Money Chats and Tips Facebook group to share your tips and stories
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Business Standard
5 days ago
- Politics
- Business Standard
Over 22,000 narcotic smugglers held in Punjab's anti drug campaign
Over 22,000 narcotic smugglers have been arrested so far under a state-level campaign against drugs, officials said on Friday. Under the 'Yudh Nashian Virudh' (war against drugs) campaign, Punjab Police on Thursday arrested 113 drug smugglers and recovered 1.5 kg heroin, 5 kg opium, and 31,237 intoxicant pills from their possession. With this, the number of total drug smugglers arrested in 138 days of the campaign has reached 22,377. Special DGP (Law and Order) Arpit Shukla stated that over 180 police teams, comprising more than 1,300 police personnel, under the supervision of 93 gazetted officers, conducted raids at as many as 433 locations across the state on Thursday. The operation led to the registration of 81 FIRs across the state, Shukla said, adding police teams also checked as many as 483 suspicious persons in the exercise. The state government has also constituted a five-member cabinet subcommittee led by Finance Minister Harpal Singh Cheema to monitor the war against drugs. The state government has implemented a three-pronged strategy Enforcement, De-addiction, and Prevention (EDP) to eradicate drugs from the state, the DGP added. (Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
