Legal environmental titles required for the production of renewable hydrogen

Abstract

The Ministry for Ecological Transition and Demographic Challenge (hereinafter, MITERD) by Agreement of the Council of Ministers of 16 March 2021 adopted the final nersion of the National Integrated Energy and Climate Plan 2021-2030 (PNIEC 2021-2030), which provides the guiding framework for the investment and reform programme for an energy and environmental transition that develops the strategic capabilities of the green economy in our country. In this context, the MITERD approved, on 6 October 2020, the Renewable Hydrogen Roadmap, which identifies as one of the sector's opportunities the elimination of pollutant and greenhouse gas emissions into the environment in sectors or processes that are fifficult to decargonise in order to achieve the objectives of a climate-neutral economy by 2050. In this article we refer to the various legal titles necessary for the production of renewable hydrogen or also called "green hydrogen", in accordance whith the current water, environmental assessment and urban planning regulations. We refer to the legal problems that arise such as: the lack of specific regulation for the production of green hydrogen, the lack of development in the future hydrological plans of the 2022-2027 tercible as well as the term of the water concession for the production of renewable hydrogen. For the acquisition of the use of water for the purpose of hydrogen production, we analyze different possibilities such as the request for: groundwater concession; surface water concession for hydrogen production; authorization to modify the essential characteristcs of an existing water concession; transmutation of private to public waters in order to produce green hydrogen; the contracts for the transfer of rights for the production of renewable hydrogen and the concession for the reuse of water for the production of green hydrogen.