HySUCCESS consortium is researching the socio-economic impact of hydrogen. It has been awarded 12 million euros for this purpose by science financier NWO.
To facilitate the transition to a hydrogen economy, it is important to also make social, legal and economic adjustments. The HySUCCESS consortium, which stands for Social, User-Acceptable, Economically Sustainable Systems for hydrogen, is set to tackle this. It has received a grant for this from NWO – in collaboration with the NGF programme GroenvermogenNL. The consortium will conduct an interdisciplinary study of hydrogen from the perspectives of engineering, business, law, behavioural sciences and industry.
Staff at the University of Groningen (RUG) will research the role of energy law and environmental psychology. University associate professor Goda Perlaviciute, professor Linda Steg (both working in the department of environmental psychology within the Faculty of Behavioural and Social Sciences) and professor Lorenzo Squintani (Faculty of Law and director of the Wubbo Ockels School for Energy and Climate) will conduct the research. They will do this together with a number of postdocs and PhDs. Patricia Poppendick, hydrogen project coordinator at the RUG's Wubbo Ockels School, is responsible for project management.
Potential concerns and legal barriers
Professor Linda Steg will be project leader of Hy-SUCCESS and says insights from behavioural sciences make a big difference. The issue is whether hydrogen will be widely accepted, or only get a small share in the renewable energy market. "Hydrogen will not be widely implemented if potential public concerns and legal barriers are not properly addressed."
Construction machinery licence
Professor Lorenzo Squintani says there are currently cases where companies want to use green hydrogen but do not have a clear legal path to follow. For example, construction companies want to use green hydrogen to fuel their construction machinery so they don't have to emit nitrogen. But they cannot get a permit for small above-ground storage tanks because there is no specific permit procedure. As a result, they are unfortunately forced to continue using diesel.
Societal challenge
From a psychological and legal perspective, "the introduction of hydrogen is a huge societal challenge and it is crucial to understand what this means for the population as a whole and how it should be regulated," says associate professor Goda Perlaviciute.
5 subtasks HySUCCESS
HySUCCESS will have 5 subtasks, with each theme led by a different institute:
- System models and the role of hydrogen in the future energy and resource system (lead: Utrecht University and HAN University of Applied Sciences)
- Markets and business models (lead: TU Delft and Centrum Wiskunde & Informatica)
- Legal framework, policy measures and public values (lead: University of Groningen and Hanzehogeschool Groningen)
- Public acceptance of hydrogen systems (lead: Leiden University and Utrecht University)
- Integration, coordination and dissemination of research (lead: University of Groningen and University of Tilburg)
Collaboration
proposal to include socio-economic impact is the only non-technical academic aspect within GroenVermogenNL, which is part of the National Growth Fund. GroenVermogenNL sets up hydrogen pilot projects, research projects and educational programmes throughout the Netherlands to increase cooperation between investors, researchers and educators.
Besides the RUG, the consortium consists of 10 universities, 2 research institutes, 5 universities of applied sciences, a research and technology organisation and 3 industrial partners. Professor Henk Akkermans of Tilburg University will act as technical manager of the project.
See also: New electrolyser generates its own solar energy for green hydrogen
Image by Gerd Altmann via Pixabay
