National Hydrogen Strategy
Green hydrogen is capable of – virtually – everything: it can make chemical processes climate-neutral, be combusted cleanly, is convenient to store and transport – and at some point will be capable of stabilising the electricity grid as a replacement for natural gas. This is why it is so important for climate protection and a secure energy supply. In its National Hydrogen Strategy, the Federal Government has set down measures for the comprehensive use of hydrogen.
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“Investing in hydrogen is an investment in our future – in climate protection, in qualified jobs, and in securing the energy supply,” said Federal Minister of Economic Affairs Robert Habeck at the presentation of the National Hydrogen Strategy. The Minister emphasised that the strategy provided a reliable basis for investment, setting the course for close cooperation with European and international partners.
In addition, work was being done at full speed to build up the necessary infrastructure. An initial network comprising more than 1,800 kilometres of converted and newly built hydrogen pipelines is to be in place by 2027/28, with about 4,500 kilometres to be added across Europe. But above all, said Habeck, the strategy brought together all measures that were already in progress. “We’re in the process of establishing the core hydrogen grid – in other words the motorways, if you like,” said Habeck, adding that this was to be completed in the summer before establishing “the main roads and local roads, i.e. the underlying distribution network” in autumn.
New hydrogen power plants planned: According to Habeck, great progress had also been made in identifying the points of consumption and distributing subsidies for power plants with hydrogen capability in the electricity sector and also for industry. In addition to the subsidies for the steel industry, talks with the EU Commission were well advanced on funding hydrogen power plants – an entirely new generation of power plants.
Further statements from the Federal Cabinet
Federal Research Minister Bettina Stark-Watzinger stressed: “Hydrogen is the missing piece in the energy transition puzzle. With this strategy, we’re setting the pace for the market ramp-up in the sector.” She said it combined energy security, climate neutrality and competitiveness. The import strategy was also important as the next step, she added, since Germany could not cover the demand for hydrogen on its own.
Federal Minister of Transport Volker Wissing emphasised the importance of hydrogen technologies in the transport sector, saying that they were important for climate-friendly mobility and complemented other alternative forms of propulsion, especially in the area of freight transport. “We need hydrogen directly for the fuel cell, but also for the production of synthetic fuels, which will be indispensable for climate neutrality in transport,” the Minister said.
Federal Environment Minister Steffi Lemke referred to the Federal Government’s goal of aligning hydrogen technologies with ambitious sustainability standards from the outset based on the new strategy. And Federal Development Minister Svenja Schulze pointed out that a fair world market for hydrogen not only offered an opportunity for the environment but also significant development opportunities worldwide.
The most important questions and answers about the National Hydrogen Strategy:
What is hydrogen?
Hydrogen is a gas that combusts with oxygen to form water. The particular point here is that no air pollutants or greenhouse gases are produced in the process. Hydrogen is completely climate-neutral if it is “green”, i.e. when water is broken down into hydrogen and oxygen by means of renewable electricity generated by wind turbines or solar modules, for example. This process is known as electrolysis. Hydrogen, or H for short, is a chemical element that also occurs in nature, for example in combination with oxygen atoms as water (H2O).
What is the National Hydrogen Strategy?
The National Hydrogen Strategy sets out a target vision for the use of hydrogen in Germany from 2030, clustering the Federal Government’s measures and setting out state guidelines for the production, transport and use of hydrogen and its derivatives in all sectors. In particular, it also describes the development of a hydrogen infrastructure, including a hydrogen network comprising more than 1,800 kilometres of new and converted pipelines to be built in Germany by 2027/2028.
The strategy lists short-term measures for 2023, medium-term measures for 2024/2025 and long-term measures to be completed by 2030. The supply of hydrogen is important in terms of Germany’s goal of achieving climate neutrality by 2045. With this goal in mind, it will be important to ensure the increased use of hydrogen in industry, heavy commercial vehicles and in air and sea transport by 2030. Gas-fired power plants with hydrogen capability are to be used to stabilise the electricity grid.
Why is Germany so interested in hydrogen? And why is hydrogen considered the energy source of the future?
Hydrogen is flexible to use and easy to transport, and it is also climate-friendly, if produced using renewable energy. Since electricity is not easy to store, another point is that surplus renewable electricity can be used to produce hydrogen: in this way, the electricity is converted into an energy source that is suitable for storage.
If hydrogen is used in the same way as natural gas in the future, it can take on the latter’s function stabilising the electricity grids. In order to maintain balance in an electricity grid, the same amount must be fed in as is taken out at any time. If energy supply is predominantly dependent on wind and sun – and is therefore subject to significant fluctuations – a counterweight is needed that can be effectively controlled. This is achieved by flexible gas-fired power plants that can be easily powered up and down. The Federal Government is looking to put Germany’s energy supply on a broader basis in order to become independent of fossil fuels. Hydrogen has a key role to play here.
The use of hydrogen will also enable the climate-friendly transformation of Germany’s industry, heavy goods transportation, shipping and air traffic.
The first industrial companies, including steel producers Thyssen-Krupp and Salzgitter Stahl, are starting to convert their processes to hydrogen technology – an important step towards a climate-neutral Germany: after all, the steel industry is responsible for six percent of all greenhouse gas emissions in Germany. In industry in particular, hydrogen can be used as the basis for chemical processes to make certain areas climate-friendly where the use of renewable electricity alone is not sufficient.
More on this topic: The website of the Federal Ministry of Economic Affairs provides practical examples of the use of hydrogen.
Why is hydrogen controversial? Green, grey, blue, turquoise – hydrogen comes in many colours
Hydrogen is currently not the most efficient method of using renewable electricity. This is because a lot of energy is lost in the production of hydrogen, which also means that enormous amounts of green electricity are needed for its production. As such, it is still more advantageous to use renewable electricity directly.
What is more, not every form of hydrogen is equally climate-friendly; this depends on how the hydrogen is produced:
– Green hydrogen is climate-friendly because it is produced through electrolysis of water using green electricity.
– In the case of grey hydrogen, however, the starting material is natural gas. This is converted into CO2 and hydrogen by means of heat. The resulting CO2 is released into the atmosphere, thereby increasing the greenhouse effect.
– Blue hydrogen is produced in the same way as grey hydrogen. The only difference here is that the resulting CO2 is stored. It is low in carbon, but not carbon-neutral: when using Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) technology, greenhouse gases are still released into the atmosphere.
– The use of coal as an energy source produces brown hydrogen.
– Orange hydrogen is produced from bioenergy – such as biomass, biofuel, biogas or biomethane – which usually comes from waste and residual materials. The greenhouse gases bound in it are released during combustion. So the CO2 footprint of orange hydrogen is lower than that of fossil fuels but higher than that of green hydrogen.
– Turquoise hydrogen is produced through thermal fission of methane. Instead of CO2, a solid carbon is produced in the process. In order to produce it on a CO2-neutral basis, renewable energy has to be used and the carbon must be permanently bound.
– Red hydrogen is hydrogen produced using nuclear energy. Its production is CO2-free, but the required uranium remains a fossil resource that is not renewable, the CO2 footprint of the decommissioning of nuclear power plants is difficult to estimate, and the question of final storage is still unresolved.
– Yellow hydrogen refers to hydrogen production from a mixture of renewable energies and fossil fuels.
– White hydrogen is the term used when the hydrogen is simply a waste product of other chemical processes.
Which type of hydrogen is promoted under the Hydrogen Strategy?
Until sufficient green hydrogen is available, other low-carbon colours can also be used – especially the comparatively climate-friendly hydrogen from waste, for example. This will serve to quickly establish the hydrogen market and meet all needs. Subject to certain conditions and maintaining a rigorous focus on greenhouse gas emissions, it will also be possible to subsidise the production of low-carbon blue hydrogen from natural gas using CCS, i.e. CO2 storage, turquoise hydrogen from methane combustion, and orange hydrogen from waste and residues.
Why is green hydrogen better than fossil fuels?
If hydrogen is produced using renewable electricity, only low levels of greenhouse gas emissions are produced during use, or ideally none at all. This does not apply to the combustion of fossil fuels such as gas, oil and coal, which is the main cause of greenhouse gases worldwide. Independence from fossil fuels also strengthens energy security in Germany.
How can hydrogen be used?
The use of hydrogen is important in order to reduce CO2 emissions in industry. In the particularly energy-intensive production of steel, hydrogen is to replace coal. What is more, certain processes in the chemical industry can only become climate-friendly if green hydrogen is used.
In future, gas-fired power plants are also to be operated using climate-neutral gases such as hydrogen. Conventional gas-fired power plants are still necessary until supply is secured by renewable energies. But such plants must be built in such a way that they can be converted to be used with climate-neutral gases such as hydrogen.
Where the use of electric drives is not effective or feasible, hydrogen also offers solutions for climate-friendly transport. Together with CO2, it can be converted into climate-friendly fuels that can be used to power heavy goods vehicles, ships and aircraft, for example. Hydrogen-powered trains have the potential to replace diesel-powered trains in regional transport, thereby reducing CO2 emissions from railways.
How is the Federal Government promoting the use of hydrogen?
On 26 July 2023, the Federal Government decided to update its National Hydrogen Strategy, the first version of which was adopted in June 2020. The aim here is to utilise hydrogen technology to reduce CO2 emissions in the industry, transport and the energy sector, at the same time promoting the competitiveness of the German economy and tapping into new markets.The Federal Ministry of Education and Research supports initiatives that address the fundamental questions of the hydrogen economy, namely: how can we produce, store, transport and use hydrogen cheaply and efficiently?
The Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs also supports the living labs being set up as pilot projects for the energy transition. Support is provided for companies and research institutions that develop new technologies and solutions for the energy transition and test these under real-life conditions on an industrial scale.
Through the National Innovation Programme Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Technology, the Federal Ministry of Transport is supporting projects that utilise hydrogen for transport, especially in the areas of road, rail, water and air transport.
The specially established Hydrogen Pilot Office provides direct access to funding opportunities that fit an individual project.
Where will Germany get enough green hydrogen from?
The Federal Government is looking to establish an electrolysis capacity in Germany of at least ten gigawatts by 2030. Much more than this will ultimately be needed, however. Germany will not be capable of producing green hydrogen on its own in the quantities needed: there is not enough renewable electricity for this. The new National Hydrogen Strategy stipulates that a new import strategy for hydrogen is to be developed before the end of 2023.
The Federal Government is already focusing on international cooperation with countries such as Norway, Denmark, Austria, Italy, Canada and Namibia. Another cornerstone in terms of the future supply of hydrogen will take the form of strategic partnerships with South and West Africa, as well as Australia. In these countries, the conditions are particularly suitable for generating wind and solar power for the production of hydrogen.