ABSTRACT
The renewable hydrogen industry continues to develop globally as a means of decarbonising hard-to-abate sectors which cannot easily be electrified. To assist in scaling the development of this industry, regulatory sandboxes such as ‘hydrogen valleys’ in the European Union (EU) and ‘hydrogen hubs’ in Australia have been deployed to co-locate hydrogen production and utilisation. This chapter discusses the main regulatory tools used in three established hydrogen valley locations in the EU: the Netherlands, Spain and Italy, and three hydrogen hub locations in Australia: South Australia, Western Australia and Queensland. These select locations are amongst the ‘first-mover’ demonstrations of valleys and hubs. An analysis of hubs and valleys highlights the benefits of geographically co-locating the supply and demand of hydrogen, but also the challenge of coordinating its implementation between institutional actors in the EU and Australia. The chapter will identify three key recommendations that should be considered for the implementation of similar sandboxes in any other jurisdiction. It concludes with some general observations on the challenges and opportunities of the regulatory sandbox approach in hydrogen regulation.
