The green hydrogen sector has emerged as a big player in the decarbonisation game, as Europe races to meet its net-zero greenhouse gas emissions goal for 2050. Green hydrogen is vital to integrate renewables into the energy system and, most importantly, decarbonise industry. So, it’s essential to understand how some of these key industries are not only going to be able to decarbonise but presently are – and even without subsidies. Carina Krastel, EIT InnoEnergy’s alumna and expert on green hydrogen, explains these trends.
Meet the expert
Carina, the Commercial Director of the European Green Hydrogen Acceleration Center (EGHAC), is passionate about the future energy transition and the part that green hydrogen will play. As a sustainable energy engineer, she has worked in the construction and industrial gas industry on sustainable energy, air quality and innovation topics since 2009. Before joining EIT InnoEnergy, Carina was the Director for New Offers for the Energy Transition for a French industrial gas company, focusing on green hydrogen and carbon capture solutions. As an EIT InnoEnergy Master School alumna, she joined EGHAC to further support new projects in the energy transition arena. She shares, “I raise awareness about the EGHAC and our innovative value chain approach to industrial decarbonisation, and I set up consortia for projects and support them to raise needed funds and milestones. For example, this interesting lighthouse project on green steel and additional fertilisers or synthetic kerosine projects. There are so many different industries where we can apply this value-chain approach!”
The EGHAC
The EGHAG, operated by EIT InnoEnergy and supported by Breakthrough Energy, supports and develops projects which pursue a value-chain approach and offer decarbonised end-products on the market, at an acceptable premium price, in key high-emitting economic sectors (e.g. steel, synthetic fuel, shipping, or food). A value-chain approach (as opposed to the traditional method with the multiplication of bilateral agreements along the value-chain, whereby each party needs to optimise its margin in each transaction – leading to uncertainties, additional risks, and suboptimal economic outcomes) is about companies partnering in one industrial venture. The profitability of this new venture becomes the primary target, and the competitiveness of the CO2-free end-product is the dominant factor. Part of EGHAC’s outreach is webinars such as this one to share how these value chains are a great solution, even for “hard to abate” industries!
Meet Carina
On 07 December, EIT InnoEnergy will host a thought-provoking webinar where you can learn more about the career opportunities arising from green hydrogen initiatives. Carina shares: “The webinar is a must-watch for anyone interested in learning more about the role of hydrogen in our energy system, how it fits into the Green Deal and other EU plans, as well as real-life examples of EGHAC’s unique value-chain approach and how green hydrogen could play a role in decarbonisation.” Since the EGHAC will support and accelerate large-scale industrial green hydrogen projects, they plan to build a EUR 100 billion a year green hydrogen economy by 2025. This will create up to 500k direct and indirect jobs across the complete value chain. EIT InnoEnergy Master School prepares students to join this exciting field and fill this growing need for skilled engineers!
Joining this exciting field
A great example of a graduate who has completed the journey from education to joining the EIT InnoEnergy network, Carina explains what sets the EIT InnoEnergy Master School programmes apart: “Having a double degree of two high-ranked universities in two countries and additional experience in innovation and entrepreneurship gives a great foundation to kick-start your career. EIT InnoEnergy operates at the centre of the energy transition and is a great place to build your network. And as you can see, I now have a great impactful position in the direct EIT InnoEnergy ecosystem!”
Alike Carina, more EIT InnoEnergy students and alumni are increasingly entering this dynamic Field. Such is the case of current students of the Master’s in Sustainable Energy Systems (SELECT) who recently won the annual EDPR University Challenge with their project “Waste-to-hydrogen”. This project, developed during their studies, provides a pathway to green hydrogen production from waste materials.
As Carina reflects: “Green hydrogen is key to meeting Europe’s net-zero greenhouse gas emissions. For some industries, it is the only way to decarbonise. Yet, we can only decarbonise energy-intensive industries sustainably when taking a value chain approach. Therefore, discussions should focus on the premium of the end-product and not on the price of hydrogen.” Would you like to hear more? Join the webinar on 07 December!