Germany, the Netherlands and North Rhine-Westphalia have commissioned a feasibility study on the creation of a transnational value chain for green hydrogen from the North Sea to industrial clusters in the border area of ​​the Netherlands and North Rhine-Westphalia. The study is scheduled to be released later this year.

Specifically, experts from the project management organizations - on the German side this is Forschungszentrum Jülich and an institution to be named, on the Dutch side the national organization for applied natural science research TNO - have been commissioned to develop possible business cases for the production of green hydrogen by using a Dutch one -to examine German production and transport infrastructure for hydrogen.

In addition, they are intended to probe the interest of industry in green hydrogen and potential areas of application, and to present the existing legal framework in connection with the production, transport, trading and use of green hydrogen. In addition, they are commissioned to analyze which legal framework conditions have to be created in order to be able to create transnational business cases for green hydrogen.

Draft National Hydrogen Strategy

In the meantime, the central contents of the National Hydrogen Strategy by Federal Minister of Economics Peter Altmaier (CDU) have become known. The federal government actually wanted to present the strategy by the end of last year. The minister's draft is now in the departmental vote.

As the "Spiegel" reports as the first medium , the strategy envisages that by 2030 a total of 20 percent of the hydrogen consumed in this country should be "green" - i.e. generated by electrolysis with solar or wind power. To this end, the Federal Government wants to promote the installation of electrolysers with an output of three to five gigawatts.

Investments in the infrastructure for the distribution of hydrogen are also to be supported. A particular focus will be on expanding the network of filling stations and on supplying industry. Research into the production and use of the energy source should also be promoted more strongly. The draft strategy assumes that Germany cannot meet the demand for climate-friendly hydrogen on its own. Therefore, the Federal Republic should enter into energy partnerships, especially with African countries.

The summary of the "Spiegel" allows the conclusion that the Federal Ministry of Economics is now completely on green hydrogen. In November Altmaier, together with three ministerial colleagues, published a contribution to the discussion on the National Hydrogen Strategy, which emphasized the importance of "CO2-free" hydrogen for the energy transition. The ministers subsumed “CO2-free” in addition to those from green electricity electrolysis, but also hydrogen from natural gas in combination with CCS technologies - so-called blue hydrogen. According to the four ministers, the energy turnaround requires “CO2-free hydrogen in the full range of its possibilities in the medium to long term”.

This article originally appeared on pv-magazine-de.com, and has been republished with permission by pv magazine (www.pv-magazine.com and www.pv-magazine-de.com).