The Hydrogen Council is an instrument in the Strategy presented by the Norwegian Ministry of Petroleum and Energy and the Norwegian Ministry of Transport and Communications on 26 August 2005 for the targeting of hydrogen as an energy carrier for transportation and stationary power supply.
The Council is to act as an advisory board that will give strategic input to priorities and further investment in matters related to hydrogen. It will advise on technological, market-related and social issues, and also in relation to other activities addressed by the strategy which are not comprised by the Hydrogen Platform, such as safety, standards and regulations. In this way the Council will help to link the activities comprised by the Hydrogen Platform and those that lie outside the platform.
Advice will be given to the authorities, the decision making bodies of the various programmes and the secretariat and administration of the Hydrogen Platform.
Assisted by the secretariat and in collaboration with the Platform’s administration, the Council is to prepare a supervisory action plan which will form the basis for the work to be carried out within the framework of the Hydrogen Platform.
Furthermore, the Council is to highlight the strengths and weaknesses relating to current investments in hydrogen and advise on the future
profile of the authorities’ use of policy instruments.
An assessment of production and use of hydrogen in relation to other energy solutions is also to be carried out.
The Council will also consider the appointment of a group of experts to assess safety, standards and regulations linked to hydrogen, but does not have the authority to make decisions pertaining to the allocation of funds to projects.
The Council meets two to four times a year.
