Periodic Reporting for period 1 - HYDRA (HYDROGEN ECONOMY BENEFITS AND RISKS: TOOLS DEVELOPMENT AND POLICIES IMPLEMENTATION TO MITIGATE POSSIBLE CLIMATE IMPACTS)
Reporting period: 2023-11-01 to 2025-04-30
With growing concerns over energy security, fluctuating fossil fuel prices, and ambitious climate commitments, the shift to renewables and cleaner technologies is no longer a distant goal, it is a necessity driven by both environmental imperatives and geopolitical realities. Among these technologies, hydrogen is recognised as a versatile energy carrier with great potential.
However, even if hydrogen gained traction in the clean energy transition, significant challenges still stand in the way of developing a scalable hydrogen economy. While hydrogen is seen as a game-changer in decarbonizing industries such as steelmaking, heavy transport, and aviation, the costs of production, infrastructure requirements, and regulatory framework are areas that need urgent attention. Additionally, hydrogen production and use still raise some unresolved questions regarding:
• Its indirect Global Warming Potential - though hydrogen itself is not a greenhouse gas, its increased leakages can alter the atmospheric budget and disrupt atmospheric chemistry, indirectly impacting the removing mechanisms of other gases (e.g. methane);
• Its demand for land and resources - large hydrogen projects may compete with other clean energy sources for land, and water-intensive electrolysis processes raise concerns about energy justice;
• Its flammability and explosive nature - hydrogen is highly flammable and could lead to fire hazards, particularly in confined spaces. However, leakages are difficult to detect without specialized sensors.
The HYDRA project is a key initiative aiming to address these challenges, assessing both the benefits and risks of a hydrogen-based economy while developing tools and guidelines to mitigate potential climate impacts and enhance safety, thus ensuring the integration of hydrogen into the energy transition is both effective and responsible.
One of the project primary objectives is to investigate hydrogen interactions within the atmosphere and, ultimately, its overall impact on climate. HYDRA will estimate hydrogen emissions along its entire lifecycle, from production and transport to storage and use, examining their effects on atmospheric components such as carbon monoxide (CO), nitrous oxide (N2O), methane (CH₄), and ozone (O₃). Through advanced climate modeling, HYDRA will estimate hydrogen radiative forcing and explore potential climate change scenarios linked to its large-scale deployment.
Beyond atmospheric and climatic effects, HYDRA also examines the broader socio-economic and energy transition dimensions of hydrogen deployment. Using the Integrated Assessment Model (IAM) WILIAM, previously developed in other EU projects (e.g. LOCOMOTION), the initiative will evaluate hydrogen impact on land use, water resources, economy, and society. This model will also allow HYDRA to simulate potential mitigation measures in response to any identified negative effects, whether on climate, the environment, or society, ultimately informing policymakers through guidelines for the sustainable development of the hydrogen economy.
The project also places significant emphasis on safety. Given hydrogen flammability and the risks associated with leakages, HYDRA is developing an advanced leakage detection technology that will undergo rigorous testing throughout the four-year research period.
However, even if hydrogen gained traction in the clean energy transition, significant challenges still stand in the way of developing a scalable hydrogen economy. While hydrogen is seen as a game-changer in decarbonizing industries such as steelmaking, heavy transport, and aviation, the costs of production, infrastructure requirements, and regulatory framework are areas that need urgent attention. Additionally, hydrogen production and use still raise some unresolved questions regarding:
• Its indirect Global Warming Potential - though hydrogen itself is not a greenhouse gas, its increased leakages can alter the atmospheric budget and disrupt atmospheric chemistry, indirectly impacting the removing mechanisms of other gases (e.g. methane);
• Its demand for land and resources - large hydrogen projects may compete with other clean energy sources for land, and water-intensive electrolysis processes raise concerns about energy justice;
• Its flammability and explosive nature - hydrogen is highly flammable and could lead to fire hazards, particularly in confined spaces. However, leakages are difficult to detect without specialized sensors.
The HYDRA project is a key initiative aiming to address these challenges, assessing both the benefits and risks of a hydrogen-based economy while developing tools and guidelines to mitigate potential climate impacts and enhance safety, thus ensuring the integration of hydrogen into the energy transition is both effective and responsible.
One of the project primary objectives is to investigate hydrogen interactions within the atmosphere and, ultimately, its overall impact on climate. HYDRA will estimate hydrogen emissions along its entire lifecycle, from production and transport to storage and use, examining their effects on atmospheric components such as carbon monoxide (CO), nitrous oxide (N2O), methane (CH₄), and ozone (O₃). Through advanced climate modeling, HYDRA will estimate hydrogen radiative forcing and explore potential climate change scenarios linked to its large-scale deployment.
Beyond atmospheric and climatic effects, HYDRA also examines the broader socio-economic and energy transition dimensions of hydrogen deployment. Using the Integrated Assessment Model (IAM) WILIAM, previously developed in other EU projects (e.g. LOCOMOTION), the initiative will evaluate hydrogen impact on land use, water resources, economy, and society. This model will also allow HYDRA to simulate potential mitigation measures in response to any identified negative effects, whether on climate, the environment, or society, ultimately informing policymakers through guidelines for the sustainable development of the hydrogen economy.
The project also places significant emphasis on safety. Given hydrogen flammability and the risks associated with leakages, HYDRA is developing an advanced leakage detection technology that will undergo rigorous testing throughout the four-year research period.
HYDRA is structured into six work packages (WPs). While WP1 is dedicated to coordinating and managing the project to ensure smooth execution and alignment with objectives, WP2 to WP5 focus on technical activities, and WP6 is responsible for dissemination, communication, and exploitation of project results.
WP2 lays the groundwork, assessing the political landscape surrounding hydrogen, investigating available H2 leakage detection technologies, analyzing the hydrogen value chain to determine development scenarios and estimate leakages. WP2 has resulted in the development of two comprehensive databases, one for policies and one for leakages, and three deliverables which will contribute to scientific publications and/or be made accessible to stakeholders.
WP3 focuses on designing and developing an advanced monitoring tool to detect hydrogen leakages. The first 18 months of the project have been dedicated to its design and requirements, with the next phase focusing on rigorous testing in 1) a wind tunnel and 2) a hydrogen storage facility.
WP4 is the modeling core of the HYDRA project, leveraging and improving WILIAM IAM to generate energy and emissions scenarios linked to large-scale hydrogen deployment. WILIAM thus kicks off a complex modeling chain that integrates chemistry transport models and climate models (fed by these emissions scenarios) to further predictions on the atmospheric budget and hydrogen radiative forcing. Early efforts have focused on setting up hydrogen-specific technologies in different modules within WILIAM and ensuring proper parameterization in chemistry models, particularly for the correct consideration of the hydrogen soil sink. Results and data of HYDRA simulations will be available and published as the project progresses.
WP5 synthesizes findings from the preceding work packages, weighing the benefits and risks of large-scale hydrogen deployment while using WILIAM to simulate mitigation strategies. Additionally, WP5 will refine the life cycle assessment (LCA) methodology for hydrogen technologies to incorporate HYDRA research outcomes, creating a more comprehensive evaluation framework. While initial LCA activities have concentrated on assessing existing methodologies, further developments will take shape toward the project conclusion once results from WP4 are available.
Lastly, WP6 is dedicated to outreach, actively promoting project objectives via a website and social media channels while disseminating findings through conferences and the organization of a series of webinars. The first 18 months of the project have been dedicated to the presentation of the project objectives and methodology in different events and to networking with relevant initiatives, as well as to set up the exploitation methodology and communication basics. Dissemination and communication efforts will continue in the next project phase, with exploitation pathways becoming more and more defined as the technical activities progress.
WP2 lays the groundwork, assessing the political landscape surrounding hydrogen, investigating available H2 leakage detection technologies, analyzing the hydrogen value chain to determine development scenarios and estimate leakages. WP2 has resulted in the development of two comprehensive databases, one for policies and one for leakages, and three deliverables which will contribute to scientific publications and/or be made accessible to stakeholders.
WP3 focuses on designing and developing an advanced monitoring tool to detect hydrogen leakages. The first 18 months of the project have been dedicated to its design and requirements, with the next phase focusing on rigorous testing in 1) a wind tunnel and 2) a hydrogen storage facility.
WP4 is the modeling core of the HYDRA project, leveraging and improving WILIAM IAM to generate energy and emissions scenarios linked to large-scale hydrogen deployment. WILIAM thus kicks off a complex modeling chain that integrates chemistry transport models and climate models (fed by these emissions scenarios) to further predictions on the atmospheric budget and hydrogen radiative forcing. Early efforts have focused on setting up hydrogen-specific technologies in different modules within WILIAM and ensuring proper parameterization in chemistry models, particularly for the correct consideration of the hydrogen soil sink. Results and data of HYDRA simulations will be available and published as the project progresses.
WP5 synthesizes findings from the preceding work packages, weighing the benefits and risks of large-scale hydrogen deployment while using WILIAM to simulate mitigation strategies. Additionally, WP5 will refine the life cycle assessment (LCA) methodology for hydrogen technologies to incorporate HYDRA research outcomes, creating a more comprehensive evaluation framework. While initial LCA activities have concentrated on assessing existing methodologies, further developments will take shape toward the project conclusion once results from WP4 are available.
Lastly, WP6 is dedicated to outreach, actively promoting project objectives via a website and social media channels while disseminating findings through conferences and the organization of a series of webinars. The first 18 months of the project have been dedicated to the presentation of the project objectives and methodology in different events and to networking with relevant initiatives, as well as to set up the exploitation methodology and communication basics. Dissemination and communication efforts will continue in the next project phase, with exploitation pathways becoming more and more defined as the technical activities progress.
HYDRA will contribute to the understanding of the impact of a large-scale hydrogen economy on climate and the environment, advancing the modeling of the hydrogen sector in the WILIAM model, the parametrisation of the H2 soil sink in atmospheric chemistry models, and the estimation of H2 leakages along the whole value chain.
The design of an advanced hydrogen leakage detection system is another innovation contributed by the HYDRA project with practical implications for safe deployment of hydrogen technologies.
Additionally, HYDRA update to the life cycle assessment methodology for hydrogen technologies will enhance the evaluation of their environmental impact, further advancing LCA.
The design of an advanced hydrogen leakage detection system is another innovation contributed by the HYDRA project with practical implications for safe deployment of hydrogen technologies.
Additionally, HYDRA update to the life cycle assessment methodology for hydrogen technologies will enhance the evaluation of their environmental impact, further advancing LCA.