In line with its global purpose for accelerating the transition to a carbon-neutral world through reduced energy consumption and more sustainable solutions, ENGIE announces that it has joined the Brazilian Hydrogen Association (ABH2) becoming the first company in the energy sector to become a member of the entity.
ENGIE’s objective is to ramp up its business in the green hydrogen segment, one of the key growth areas in the Group both worldwide and in Brazil. Joining the Association and fostering partnerships and studies in this area reinforces ENGIE’s goal of bringing the Company’s net emissions down to zero by 2045 as well as diversifying its operations into new renewable fuels.
“We believe that through a joint effort with ABH2, we can drive the applied research in advancing the use of green hydrogen by industry on a commercial scale ”, says Koen Langie, Business Development Manager for Green Hydrogen at ENGIE Brasil.
In addition to collaboration at the technical-scientific level, another focus of the partnership with the Association involves professional training. “We have to develop human capital in Brazil to ensure the development of green hydrogen projects”, Langie adds.
For Langie, the Brazilian hydrogen market depends on appropriate regulation to develop. In this context, the work of ABH2 and its other members is to provide opportunities for leveraging a normative and regulatory framework in the country, establishing a business environment that is both competitive and attractive to investors. ENGIE sees an opportunity to develop solutions for such segments as steel making, mining, chemicals, petrochemicals, among others.
According to Paulo Emílio Valadão de Miranda, ABH2’s president, the entity, founded in 2017, aims to create a network involving companies, academia, agencies, and government institutions to discuss, foster and plan initiatives in the field of hydrogen with an initial focus on regulation, codes and standards. ABH2 has been developing an intense agenda of meetings with its corporate membership to understand their needs and encourage the adoption of hydrogen energy-related technologies in Brazil. In addition, the Association has acted in conjunction with EPE (Energy Research Company), the MME (Ministry of Mines and Energy) and MCTI (Ministry of Science and Technology and Innovation) on themes related to the National Hydrogen Program, which is to be implemented this year in Brazil, so that its associates are able make a positive contribution to the process. In this context, ABH2 plans to announce important achievements in the field of hydrogen in Brazil through the intermediary of the 2nd Brazilian Hydrogen Congress to be held in virtual format in November 2021.

“Since last year, in light of the recent hydrogen sector growth and enhanced interest in this energy solution, the Association has been putting out feelers to the private sector as a whole and individual companies. Today we see a trend towards identifying investment sources for large scale green hydrogen projects to decarbonize various sectors of the economy, especially those responsible for heavy emissions”, remarks Monica Saraiva Panik, director for institutional relations at ABH2.
GLOBAL GOAL

Globally, ENGIE’s objective is to establish a strong position in green hydrogen, an emerging technology gaining momentum worldwide. The Group’s aim is thus to leverage on the first-mover advantage in this segment.

In ENGIE’s view, hydrogen is a strategic vector of decarbonization, allowing better integration of renewable energies and helping hard-to-abate sectors attain their goals to reduce emissions. Furthermore, the technologies associated with green hydrogen are becoming increasingly competitive.

By 2030 ENGIE aims to develop 4GW of green hydrogen industrial capacity, install 700 km of dedicated hydrogen transmission networks and operate more than 100 refueling stations by 2030. The Group is already active in 70 industrial green hydrogen projects (with 20 projects > 50MW) in 10 countries.