Billions of euros! The eu's economic stimulus plan focuses on hydrogen energy

European commission President Ursula von der leyen is scheduled to unveil a relatively "green" economic stimulus plan on Thursday to provide billions of euros for hydrogen technology and clean energy infrastructure in response to the covid-19 outbreak.

According to bloomberg news, von der leyen is expected to announce a detailed plan for the 2021-2027 European Union budget and a "recovery tool" of at least 500 billion euros. The plan, which takes into account the eu's target of "carbon neutral" emissions reductions by 2050, is more "green" than most governments' rescue plans.

Hydrogen currently accounts for less than 1% of Europe's total energy consumption. In order to promote the development of hydrogen energy technology, the eu intends to take a number of measures, including providing 5 billion to 30 billion euros of support for hydrogen energy production through the innovation fund to increase the annual output to 1 million tons; Raise support for hydrogen projects in the next long-term budget to €1.3 billion; Increased investment in renewable and hydrogen infrastructure through a special fund managed by the European investment bank, a lending fund with an annual disposable income of €10 billion.

One of the big constraints on hydrogen was cost. But the cost of hydrogen energy has fallen with the development of electrolysis technology, with France's liquid gas, German steelmaker thyssenkrupp and anglo-dutch oil company shell all having demonstration projects in this area.

Some eu member states have begun to promote hydrogen energy development on their own. The Netherlands plans to expand its hydrogen electrolysis capacity to 500 megawatts by 2025 and 3,000 to 4,000 megawatts by 2030. The German and Dutch governments also launched a joint feasibility study to explore the use of offshore wind farms to produce hydrogen energy.