On September 14, French energy giant TotalEnergies launched a tender to supply 500,000 tons of green hydrogen per year as part of its efforts to decarbonize its European refineries.
Total has six refineries in Europe, three in France and the remainder in Belgium, Germany and the Netherlands, all of which use hydrogen.
Total Energy plans to completely replace the 500,000 tons of grey hydrogen used annually in its refineries in France, Belgium, Germany and the Netherlands with green hydrogen by 2030, reducing emissions by nearly 5 million tons per year.
Total says this is a "significant step" towards achieving TotalEnergies' goal of reducing net greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions directly related to its oil and gas operations (scopes 1 and 2) by 40% by 2030, compared to 2015 levels.
It's worth noting that EU lawmakers last week gave final approval to legally binding targets for a faster expansion of renewable energy sources this decade, in part by conceding to France to allow nuclear energy to be considered in hydrogen production.
Knowledge Points: What is Gray Hydrogen, Green Hydrogen, and Blue Hydrogen
Hydrogen energy can be categorized as "gray hydrogen", "blue hydrogen" and "green hydrogen" depending on the source of production.
"Grey hydrogen" refers to the production of hydrogen from fossil fuels oil, natural gas and coal, which is less costly but more carbon-intensive.
"Blue hydrogen" refers to the production of hydrogen from fossil fuels in conjunction with carbon capture and sequestration technologies, which have a relatively low carbon emission intensity but high capture costs.
"Green hydrogen" refers to the use of renewable energy sources such as wind power, hydropower, solar power and nuclear power to produce hydrogen by electrolysis, which is a completely carbon-neutral process, but at a higher cost.
