How realistic is Europe’s hydrogen ambition, and what does it mean in practice for islands? These questions were at the heart of the CE4EUIslands webinar “Hydrogen Technologies: Production, Storage and Utilisation in Remote Energy Systems”, which brought together policy experts, technology providers and island practitioners to explore both the opportunities and the limitations of hydrogen in island contexts.
Bridging European Hydrogen Policy and Market Reality
Stefano Barberis from Bluenergy Revolution opened the webinar with a comprehensive overview of the evolution of European hydrogen policy. He highlighted the ambitious targets set out in the EU Hydrogen Strategy and later reinforced through the REPowerEU plan, including goals for domestic production, imports and electrolyser capacity, backed by substantial public funding commitments.
However, Barberis also underlined a significant gap between policy ambitions and market reality. Actual installed electrolyser capacity in Europe remains far below targets, and many announced projects struggle to reach operation due to limited demand for green hydrogen. In hard-to-abate sectors such as aviation, maritime transport, and heavy industry, technical constraints, high costs, and the lack of long-term offtake agreements continue to undermine project viability. While incentive mechanisms such as the EU Hydrogen Bank aim to close the cost gap, auction-based support schemes have not always translated into economically robust projects, prompting a shift towards more demand-driven approaches.
For islands, Stefano Barberis noted that the picture can be more encouraging. High local energy costs, limited grid capacity, and the possibility of developing compact, integrated ecosystems can make hydrogen more attractive than on the mainland. He advocated for a “glocal” approach, combining island-scale hydrogen valleys with broader European and global value chains.
Practical Hydrogen Applications for Island Energy Systems
Lorenzo Di Fresco, also from Bluenergy Revolution, then focused on the practical deployment of hydrogen technologies on islands, drawing on detailed case studies and consultancy work. A pilot assessment on a Croatian island illustrated how hydrogen mobility solutions can be designed around real local needs. By carefully sizing vehicle fleets, including buses, vans, utility vehicles and private cars, and analysing mileage, refuelling needs and costs, the study showed that island mobility applications can operate with relatively modest hydrogen demand, in this case around 50 kg per week.
Di Fresco emphasised that small-scale, local hydrogen production—potentially linked to waste streams—can often be more feasible for islands than large centralised facilities. At the same time, maritime applications, such as ferries, pose significantly greater challenges, requiring much higher hydrogen volumes and raising questions about storage space, production capacity, and infrastructure availability on land-constrained islands.
He also compared hydrogen with other long-term energy storage options and highlighted the benefits of hybrid systems. Combining hydrogen with battery storage can help islands balance renewables, provide grid services and optimise energy management. Experiences from demonstration projects, including hydrogen-powered boats using metal hydride storage, showed both technical feasibility and the practical challenges that still need to be addressed.
Community-Led Hydrogen Initiatives from European Islands
Island practitioners provided valuable insights into how hydrogen projects develop on the ground. Ugo Toić from the island of Cres shared the island’s transition journey, which began with efforts to reduce transport emissions and later expanded to hydrogen following a proposal to convert waste into hydrogen. While waste management was the primary driver, hydrogen emerged as a valuable co-benefit for decarbonising transport.
Cres went on to join the North Adriatic Hydrogen Valley and participate in several EU-funded projects covering production, storage, refuelling infrastructure and even a hydrogen-powered ferry. Toić highlighted key challenges encountered along the way, including slow technology maturation, regulatory gaps, spatial planning constraints and limited local human resources. Ensuring access to both capital and operational funding, particularly for public transport solutions, remains essential.
Anna Mariá Acín from the Fundación del Hidrógeno de Aragón presented the Green Island hydrogen valley in Mallorca, which integrates hydrogen production, storage, mobility and stationary uses. She also introduced a technical assistance programme supporting other islands in designing tailored hydrogen valleys, using simulation tools to align technologies with local resources and needs.
Overcoming Technical, Social and Financial Barriers
The discussion and Q&A session addressed the broader enabling conditions for hydrogen on islands. While many technical challenges mirror those on the mainland, large-scale electrolysis can place additional strain on weaker island grids and require space that is often scarce. Social acceptance and community engagement were identified as critical success factors, supported by education and training to build local capacity.
Funding remains a decisive issue. Small island populations and tourism-based economies often cannot absorb high upfront or operational costs without public support. Speakers emphasised the importance of integrating hydrogen with other technologies—particularly battery storage—to enhance system resilience and cost-effectiveness.
The webinar concluded with a focused discussion on metal hydride hydrogen storage, which offers advantages such as low-pressure operation and improved safety for stationary applications, while its weight can be beneficial in specific mobility use cases.
Overall, the webinar underlined that while hydrogen is not a universal solution for islands, well-designed, community-driven and locally adapted projects can play a meaningful role in island decarbonisation strategies—especially when integrated into broader renewable energy systems.
Click to watch the recording.