“We are applying for this. The European hydrogen bank must be located in the North.” More precisely: in Groningen. According to the Groningen Commissioner of the King René Paas, there is a substantive and economic reason: at GasTerra they know how to trade energy, but if the natural gas tap is closed completely, that expertise will be lost, just like employment.
Paas dropped the nomination during ‘Noord in Nieuwspoort’, the annual northern network meeting at the House of Representatives in The Hague.
The European Commission announced its plans for a European Hydrogen Bank in March this year. This bank is intended to stimulate sustainable hydrogen production and to invest in the transition from fossil fuels to green hydrogen.
In the eyes of Paas, also chairman of the Northern Netherlands Partnership, a hydrogen bank is “a great commercial bank”. According to EU sources, 30 billion euros in hydrogen per year can be traded by a European hydrogen bank.
Geerte de Jong, project manager of the northern hydrogen lobby club HEAVENN (focuses on production, trade, transport and use of hydrogen in the North) says that the North already has a lot of experience with natural gas distribution and gas trading. “And we have a lead in the field of hydrogen,” he says. “Think of the buses from Qbuzz on hydrogen and Resato in Assen (hydrogen filling stations, ed.). The Getec Park in Emmen is also going to start using hydrogen as a fuel. There are fifty companies in the North with such a head start. We have to maintain and expand. About 25,000 jobs can soon be created in the North that are directly or indirectly related to hydrogen.”
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