More than 220 exhibitors, including representatives of 6 member companies of the Hungarian Hydrogen Technology Association, were able to present their plans and market-ready products to nearly 910 participants. More than 200 speakers discussed and developed solutions to the sector’s biggest challenges in 25 panel sessions at the High-Level Political Conference, the B2B Forum and the Innovation Forum over the four days. These are the numbers for Hydrogen Week 2024.
As in previous years, Hungary also presented itself at this year’s hydrogen week at the international hydrogen exhibition and conference, which brought together representatives from 27 countries. The success of the Hungarian stand was supported by the exhibiting companies (MOL, MVM, DBN, Ganzair, FGSZ, MFGT, KontaktElektro Kft, University of Miskolc) who were able to provide a comprehensive picture of where our country is and what goals it has set in the hydrogen sector. A highlight of the Hungarian exhibition stand was the visit of Tamás Iván Kovács, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Hungary to Belgium and Luxembourg, and the partner meeting held with the support of the embassy, at which foreign exhibitors were introduced to domestic gastronomic flavors in addition to technological developments.
An important event of Hydrogen Week was the formulation and submission to Hydrogen Europe of a recommendation on hydrogen transport and storage, which was formulated by four countries, including Hungary. Europe will definitely need to import hydrogen in the coming years, so that Europe is not at a disadvantage in this market situation, and the Hungarian, Polish, Slovak and Ukrainian Hydrogen Associations made proposals to this end.
At the festive opening night, which was followed with great interest, Attila Steiner, State Secretary for Energy and Climate Policy, greeted the conference participants in a video message and spoke about domestic plans and goals. On the second day of the conference, István Lepsényi, President of the Hungarian Hydrogen Technology Association, spoke in a panel discussion about the regulatory issues and Hungary’s aspirations, which the Association has already advocated in several forums.
The key takeaways from this year’s B2B sessions were about the need to develop underground hydrogen storage, ensure a better link between hydrogen and the power sector, interconnect stakeholders across value chains, support FIDs to build the infrastructure we need, and provide adequate financial support to assets such as electrolysers that can provide flexibility to the grid.
In the high-level policy conference, the important message concerned the matter of global trade and the fact that external partners feel that the rules to compete and come into Europe are too complicated, setting the bar too high and undermining the take-off of the sector. The importance of certification and standardisation of hydrogen products is essential to the creation of an international commodity market. The digital product passport is a simplified data container for transparency and trust for international hydrogen trade. In Europe, we see that large projects are reaching final investment decision (FID), even if the rate of FIDs is lower than the sector hoped for. Simply because we are not reaching the ambitious and aspirational REPowerEU targets does not mean that the market is not progressing.
