THE POTENTIAL OF GREEN HYDROGEN IN BRAZIL AND SPAIN

In the energy transition scenario, in which countries seek ways to decarbonize their energy matrices to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050, hydrogen appears as a strategic energy vector that can accelerate the process and contribute to achieving the goals proposed in the coming years.

Green hydrogen, which is produced from renewable sources, is an element that can be used to store surpluses from wind and photovoltaic generation, later converting it into electricity again. It is also a key element that can be used as a fuel to replace the use of natural gas, coal and diesel, that is, fossil sources with high carbon emissions. In addition, hydrogen also has several applications in combination with other chemical elements such as ammonia, methanol, etc.

In this sense, two countries aim to lead the production and export of green hydrogen on their continents: Brazil and Spain. Brazil is a developing country, with abundant land and natural resources, with 78% of renewable energy in its energy matrix, mainly from hydroelectric plants (EPE, 2022), and the largest installed renewable capacity in Latin America (IRENA, 2022). Spain is a developed country that has one of the best solar radiation rates in Europe, reaching 48% renewable energy, and stands out in terms of wind and solar photovoltaic energy generation (REE, 2022), ranking second in total installed renewable capacity in Europe (IRENA, 2022).

Given the great potential for generating electricity from renewable energy, both countries have promising projections for low-cost green hydrogen production by 2030, with forecasts of values below 1 USD/kg by 2050. (BloombergNEF, 2021)

Figure 1. Projections of green hydrogen production costs in Brazil and Spain in 2030 and 2050. Source: Prepared by the author based on data from BloombergNEF, 2021.

This work, therefore, provides a comparative analysis of these two potential countries in the generation of green hydrogen, addressing aspects of regulation, legislation and policies, state of development of technologies, hydrogen production potential, technical, political, economic and environmental barriers, with proposed actions to mitigate and solve the problems. Finally, the last chapter presents a mapping of the cases considered most relevant in each country.

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