Renewable Hydrogen in the Dutch Built Environment and the Impact on Energy Security

Abstract

The field of energy security is dominantly filled with concepts and frameworks built on the characteristics of traditional fossil fuel energy systems. Increasing penetration of renewable energy sources in the energy system brings about novel implications and challenges in the field of energy security. Hydrogen is an increasingly popular option to decarbonize hard to abate sectors or parts of the heating system. The Netherlands has a favourable position and infrastructure for large scale hydrogen roll-out. The objective of this research is to explore how hydrogen utilized in the Dutch built environment affects energy security performance. Moreover, what geotechnical characteristics of hydrogen are responsible for a change in energy security performance. A framework for analysis is constructed and applied to the current Dutch energy system as a reference case and two future energy scenarios. The data requirements are retrieved through desk research and interviews with stakeholders and experts in the field. The research concludes that hydrogen positively affects future energy security performance. The geotechnical characteristics of hydrogen can explain the differences between the results of the scenario. These emphasize a shift in energy dependencies, global hydrogen markets, increased diversity due to the broader system role of hydrogen and efficiency reductions. Future research should focus on different hydrogen production pathways and reassessing the concept of energy security given renewable energy carriers and geopolitics.