HYDROGEN IN HEATING – INTERACTIVE MAP

Our interactive map shows pilot projects all around Europe, where hydrogen is being used for heating purposes.

To navigage through the map, use your mouse wheel to scroll or the +/- buttons in the lower-right to zoom. You can drag the map around by clicking and holding.

Information on each project is shown in an overlay that is displayed by clicking on the coloured point(s). This overlay shows specific information including Project Name, Description, Project consortium, Location, Status, Archetype, Type of Building and pictures/videos.

This map was produced in the framework of the European Clean Hydrogen Alliance. More information about the Alliance below

Please note: projects’ location may be approximate & some information may still be unavailable or not disclosable to the public due to its sensitive nature.

HYDROGEN FOR HEATING?

Buildings must be climate-neutral by 2050 and we need to replace fossil fuels for heating with renewable and decarbonised sources of energy, including green gases like hydrogen, to achieve this goal.

From an energy-system point of view, hydrogen is a good complement to electricity with a view to decarbonise buildings, because it provides carbon-free energy storage capacity that can be used when renewable electricity is lacking. This happens typically when the sun is not shining or the wind is not blowing: electricity cannot be stored to the extent required. Instead, hydrogen can be stored and distributed through the well-developed gas infrastructure system in Europe, which entails reasonable investments in comparison to the foreseen size of the hydrogen market. Moreover, hydrogen can provide daily, weekly and seasonal storage of renewables to produce heat and electricity on demand. Technologies using hydrogen thus can bring flexibility to the energy system, especially to meet the heat demand, which is higher in winter.

Secondly, heating technologies are ready for hydrogen. They can therefore help ramping up the hydrogen market in Europe and drive down prices for its production, thanks to a stable demand which buildings can provide.

Already today, many new gas appliances installed in European buildings are ready to work with blends of methane and hydrogen of up to 20%. In addition, there are fuel cells on the market today that are already capable of functioning with 100% hydrogen. Boilers and micro-cogeneration units that function with 100% hydrogen are under development and in the field-test phase. In addition, manufacturers are developing 100% hydrogen-ready appliances. These are gas appliances that are installed as normal gas appliances but can operate safely and efficiently using 100% hydrogen following a reconversion with a conversion kit and recommissioning process in-situ. These appliances would be able to function with any type of green gas (e.g. e-methane, bio-methane, hydrogen or blends with up to 20% hydrogen). The consumer would receive the conversion kits when a region, city or part of a city converts to 100% hydrogen. Therefore, this type of heating are fully compatible with renewable energy and pave the way for full carbon-neutrality of the building stock (no lock-in).

A legislative framework requiring a larger range of heating technologies to operate with blends of up to 20% in 2026 and with 100% hydrogen, with or without conversion, in 2029 would streamline the market and secure investments.

From a consumer perspective, a hydrogen-ready heating appliance is interesting because it hardly requires any changes to the building. It also entails a very limited cost premium on the appliance: on average 30% more for a boiler, 8% for a hybrid heat pump, and 6% for a thermally driven heat pump compared to the methane fuelled alternatives. And these current estimates costs are expected to decrease over time.

As for the cost of hydrogen itself, technology is in quick evolution. The increasing and reliable demand for hydrogen in buildings will provide a solid ground for investments in production, trigger economies of scale and bring down production costs. This will make hydrogen more and more affordable and available to all households. Today, there are more than 80 projects across Europe that test hydrogen for heating directly or indirectly. The great variety of applications represents the flexibility of hydrogen in heating – ranging from 100% hydrogen heating as part of hydrogen valleys and local grids to hydrogen-methane blends of up to 20% hydrogen for the gas grid to heat and power plants utilising hydrogen both in central heating and cooling networks as well as off-grid.

These projects are run by companies that are members of EHI and/or the European Clean Hydrogen Alliance. Hydrogen in buildings is already a reality.

EUROPEAN CLEAN HYDROGEN ALLIANCE

The European Clean Hydrogen Alliance was set up in July 2020 to support the large-scale deployment of clean hydrogen technologies by 2030. It brings together renewable and low-carbon hydrogen production, demand in industry, mobility and other sectors, and hydrogen transmission and distribution. Its members come from industry, public authorities, civil society, and other stakeholders.

EHI is the facilitator of its Round Tablework, supporting its crucial role in bringing forward the EU Hydrogen Strategy to make hydrogen available, reliable and affordable for all European consumers.