It’s Not Just About Producing Hydrogen. We Need to Create a Viable Market for It

Solar Global is one of the companies that has tested hydrogen in the Czech Republic not just on paper, but above all in real-world operation. In Napajedla, the company has launched green hydrogen production and is now also completing infrastructure for its use in transport and industry.

The group’s founder, Vítězslav Skopal, says that the experience so far has highlighted one crucial point: producing hydrogen alone is not enough. The key is to find long-term, economically viable uses for it. At the same time, he does not see the future solely in the direct use of hydrogen. Solar Global is also interested in its further processing, for example into synthetic methane, as well as the potential for integrating hydrogen with existing gas infrastructure.

You have launched green hydrogen production. What has the experience so far shown you?

Above all, producing hydrogen is only one part of the whole story.

We have a 230 kW PEM electrolyser here, powered mainly by our own photovoltaic power plant. This has allowed us to gain hands-on and experience with the entire process – production, compression, storage, quality control, logistics and the actual sale of hydrogen.

In my view, this practical experience is the most valuable part. In real-world operation, you discover just how many technical, legislative and economic issues need to be resolved.

Today, our green hydrogen is already being supplied to the Czech industry through Messer, while at the same time we are completing infrastructure that will enable us to broaden the range of its applications.

That is why I do not see the greatest benefit of the Napajedla project simply in the amount of hydrogen produced. Far more important is the know-how we have gained over the past few years.

A public hydrogen refuelling station will also be part of the project. Does that mean you believe in hydrogen mobility?

I believe in it where it makes economic and operational sense. I do not think hydrogen will become the dominant solution for passenger transport. Battery electric vehicles are developing very quickly, and for an ordinary passenger car, the direct use of electricity is simpler and more energy-efficient.

The situation may be different for buses, lorries, heavy-duty transport or closed fleets with high daily mileage. In those cases, range, weight, refuelling speed and the way the vehicle is operated may play a more significant role.

That is why we are preparing our refuelling station so that it can serve passenger vehicles as well as buses and lorries.

However, we do not want to decide in advance which technology will prevail. We want to have the infrastructure, experience and product in place and then respond to actual market demand.

Has your experience in Napajedla changed your view of hydrogen since the start of the project?

Definitely. When you enter a new field, much of what you know comes primarily from studies, projects and assumptions. It is only real-world operation that reveals where the problems lie.

Today, I would say that producing green hydrogen is not the hardest part. Creating a viable economy around it is much more difficult.

You need production, storage, infrastructure, logistics and, above all, a customer who has a reason to purchase hydrogen over the long term.

Despite this, you are preparing further, significantly larger hydrogen projects. Is that not too great a risk in the current situation?

It would be if we were building electrolysers simply because we wanted to produce as much hydrogen as possible.

But that is not how we approach it. For every project, we look for a way to connect renewable electricity generation, energy storage and a specific use for the hydrogen produced.

Alongside the further development of Napajedla, we are also preparing projects in Staré Město, at a site near Kolín and in Skoranov. With the larger projects, we are already talking about electrolysers with capacities of several megawatts.

However, as the size of the project increases, securing offtake becomes increasingly important. It makes no sense to us to build a multi-megawatt electrolyser and only then start looking for someone to buy its output.

We want to proceed the other way round: first understand where real demand exists or could emerge, and then prepare the production and infrastructure accordingly.

Where do you see the greatest potential for green hydrogen?

Above all, in areas where using electricity directly is difficult or inefficient.

I see significant potential in industry, particularly in operations that already use hydrogen as a feedstock and where hydrogen produced from fossil fuels can gradually be replaced with green hydrogen.

Another area could be heavy-duty transport and specific transport operations.

Hydrogen could also play an interesting role directly in the energy sector. As solar and wind power continue to expand, there will be more periods when we have more electricity than we can consume at that particular moment or store economically in batteries. An electrolyser is one way of making use of this energy.

However, it makes no sense to use hydrogen everywhere simply because it is green. If we can use electricity directly, that is generally more efficient. Hydrogen should come into play where direct electrification begins to encounter technical or economic limits.

Does the hydrogen you produce always go directly to the customer, or are you also interested in further processing?

That is precisely one of the areas we are very interested in today. In my view, we should not look at hydrogen solely as a fuel for vehicles or as a gas that we fill into pressure cylinders and deliver to customers. Hydrogen is also an energy carrier and a feedstock that can be processed further.

One route we want to explore in the future is the production of synthetic methane. Through methanation, green hydrogen can be combined with carbon dioxide to produce synthetic methane. What interests us most is the potential to connect renewable electricity generation with gas infrastructure and industry.

We are also interested in the possibility of blending hydrogen into natural gas. Of course, we are aware that there are both technical and legislative requirements involved and that the entire system must be assessed, including the infrastructure and end-use equipment. Nevertheless, it is a direction we want to follow and explore further.

What matters to me is that this gives us more options for how to use energy. In my view, it is precisely this flexibility that makes hydrogen more interesting than the idea that there is only one correct way to use it.

Are there more expectations around hydrogen today than actual business?

Partly, yes. The price of green hydrogen is still high, infrastructure is only beginning to emerge, and the number of actual customers remains limited.

This creates the classic problem faced by any new technology. Customers do not want to invest in hydrogen-based solutions unless they can be certain that hydrogen will be available at a predictable price. Producers, in turn, do not want to invest in large electrolysers unless they have certainty of demand.

At this stage in the development of the hydrogen market, public support therefore also plays an important role. It needs to be said openly that many current hydrogen projects, including our own, would be very difficult to develop without public funding. The initial investment required for electrolysers, storage and related infrastructure is still high, and the market is not yet sufficiently developed to justify these costs on a purely commercial basis.

What will then determine whether green hydrogen truly takes off?

Economics will be the deciding factor. The price of green hydrogen must gradually come down, while sufficient demand must develop at the same time. European regulation and requirements for the decarbonisation of industry and transport will, of course, play a significant role, but in my view, the sector cannot rely solely on subsidies in the long term.

Support makes sense when a new technology and its infrastructure are being established. Ultimately, however, we need to create a standard business environment in which there is a producer, infrastructure and a customer, and where it makes economic sense for all three to operate within the system.

What role will hydrogen actually play in the energy sector?

Hydrogen will not replace electricity or compete with it; it will become its partner. In my view, the energy system of the future will be a combination of technologies. We will need renewable energy sources, battery storage, flexibility, smart demand management and, in some areas, hydrogen as well.

At the same time, we do not have to limit ourselves to hydrogen alone. If, in a particular case, it makes more sense to process it further, for example into synthetic methane, we must be able to work with that option as well.