Building a hydrogen economy takes more than infrastructure. It takes rules, roadmaps and shared governance. In our latest video interview, Orlando Redondo, Head of Area at the Regional Energy Body of Castilla y León (EREN), in the Department of Investments and Projects for Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency. Speaking from the public-sector side of the valley, sets out EREN’s role in the project and the regulatory and governance work a functioning hydrogen economy still needs.
Click here and watch the full interview.
For Redondo, EREN embodies the commitment of the Junta de Castilla y León to making the valley a success. The body coordinates the project’s governance and stakeholder work, and will build on it to develop a regional roadmap and strategy that reflects Castilla y León’s interests and captures the barriers along the way.
The main obstacle Redondo highlights is regulatory. Today’s projects still lean on the rules written for natural gas, the most mature framework for transporting, distributing and trading energy, while renewable gases such as hydrogen still lack an equivalent, integrated European framework.
“What is still missing is an integrating European framework. Until we have one, it falls to the technical staff of the administrations to set the criteria for each project — and without a clear reference, that is very difficult.”
Handling each project case by case, he notes, adds delays and costs that end up raising the final price. A clearer framework, such as the parcelling-out of renewable and natural gases foreseen in the latest EU directive, would give administrations a firmer reference to work from.
Despite the challenges, Redondo is convinced of the value of the valley as an exercise in learning by doing:
“If the project goes well, everyone taking part will learn and gain, but society as a whole will gain too.”
By removing barriers and establishing a shared way of working, he believes the project can help bring maturity to a technology he sees as a cornerstone of the energy transition.
