Germany Embraces the Hydrogen Economy
German economic affairs minister Altmaier is wearing a green tie while he presents the German hydrogen strategy.
Germany has officially positioned itself behind the hydrogen economy. The conservative CDU Economic Affairs minister Peter Altmaier, an ardent supporter of the renewable energy transition, explains that now that Germany has achieved more than 50% electricity from renewable sources (thanks to Corona), the issue of energy storage can no longer be ignored. As a rule of thumb, you need to address the storage problem as of 40% share renewable electricity. And the storage means of choice will be hydrogen, green hydrogen. Altmaier expresses the ambition that Germany wants to become the #1 industrial nation in leading the hydrogen effort, as a supplier of industrial electrolyzer equipment, as well as producer of hydrogen. The main ambition though remains to achieve the renewable energy objectives, meaning a fully decarbonized economy by 2050. Currently most industrial hydrogen is “grey”, meaning sourced from fossil fuel. Gradually this grey hydrogen needs to be replaced by green hydrogen, that will be used in trucks, planes, industrial processes like green steel production and many other applications.
Sunfire electrolyzer
For the first time, the German government has set itself quantitative goals and has allocated significant financial means to ensure that these goals will be met. And not only Germany, Europe will embrace hydrogen as well, in an effort to present hydrogen as a global solution for minimizing climate change. The Germans will take over the EU-presidency in the 2nd half of this year and will use the occasion to promote hydrogen Europe-wide. Altmaier stresses that Germany alone will not produce sufficient hydrogen for its own needs and that other countries, that are better placed, like North-Africa and the Middle East, will produce sufficient quantities of hydrogen for world markets, due to their excellent solar conditions. It also means more export opportunities for Germany of industrial hydrogen-generating equipment to these countries. The German government will make 7 billion euro available for hydrogen R&D in Germany and 2 billion euro for international hydrogen cooperation. Hundreds of companies are involved in this effort, there is a general mood of invigoration
Wasserstoff Offshore
[bmbf.de] – Nationale Wasserstoffstrategie
[bmbf.de] – Wasserstoff Strategy, 38 measures, pdf p32
[cleanenergywire.org] – German hydrogen strategy aims for global leadership
[spiegel.de] – Der H2 der Zukunft wird auf dem Meer erzeugt
[wikipedia.org] – Hydrogen Economy
[wikipedia.org] – Peter Altmaier
DeepResource 