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Germany steps up hydrogen production infrastructure

  • Market: Electricity, Hydrogen
  • 15/04/21

Germany is stepping up its hydrogen production infrastructure, as the economy and energy ministry this week announced a second round of calls for hydrogen test fields

The economy and energy ministry's head of energy policy Thorsten Herdan said that the second call for projects to qualify as test fields will be issued before parliament dissolves in the summer, ahead of federal elections in September.

Test fields will become a "fixed part of the energy transition, and of [the government's] energy research policy", Herdan said at the inauguration of the hydrogen "northern field test" (NRL) covering the states of Hamburg, Schleswig-Holstein and Mecklenburg Western Pomerania.

The NRL project is one of 20 field tests that qualified in the first round of calls.

"Green hydrogen will be needed in quantities impossible to conceive," federal economy and energy minister Peter Altmaier said at the NRL inauguration. Altmaier added that it is not about whether hydrogen will be produced in Brazil or in Morocco or in other countries, "but it is about [hydrogen] being produced all over the world".

The NRL field test, made up of 25 individual projects, was awarded €52mn ($62mn), of total investment costs of €300mn borne by the partners, which include utilities and industry companies. NRL will make an "important contribution to the roll-out of Germany's hydrogen infrastructure", Altmaier said.

NRL includes plans for eight electrolysers with a total electrolysis capacity of 42MW. This will make it possible for the north's strong winds to be used by industry, including Europe's largest copper producer Aurubis, based in Hamburg, and for heating and transport uses, the city state of Hamburg's prime minister Peter Tschentscher said. Tschentscher pointed out that Germany's north must curtail around 3TWh of renewable power every year due to grid bottlenecks.

Junior energy minister at the economy and energy ministry Andreas Feicht said that projects such as NRL will "lead to the development of processes, products and models", which will make it possible "for us not just to have and to use hydrogen, but also to have low-cost hydrogen".

Herdan said the needs of the hydrogen customer, "the customer's point of view", will now increasingly be at the centre.

Disagreement persists in Germany over the extent to which hydrogen consumption should be rolled out, over the role that should be given to other types of hydrogen — such as "blue" hydrogen — or to imported hydrogen, and whether to locate electrolysers close to renewables generation sites, or close to off-takers.

NRL manager Werner Beba said that Germany should first build up its hydrogen industry "on a large scale", and "then think about imports".

Olaf Lies, the energy and climate minister of Lower Saxony, also a northern state, this week said that the "correct order" should not be to first extend green hydrogen production, and to decarbonise only once there is enough green hydrogen in the system. Rather, blue hydrogen — produced from natural gas, of which the carbon is sequestered and stored — will be necessary for an interim period, Lies said.

The federal government so far supports green hydrogen only, including imports of green hydrogen.

Research institute Fraunhofer IEG acting director Mario Ragwitz this week at an event of the opposition Green Party suggested that Germany, or Europe, take up a "pioneering role" in developing guarantees of origin for green hydrogen.

Ragwitz cautioned that the domestic uptake of hydrogen remains unclear in some sectors, for instance the heating sector.

Germany's competitiveness is also viewed as an increasingly pressing issue. Tschentscher voiced his fears of Germany being left behind by Japan and China regarding hydrogen technology. "But when I look at the test field, then I feel that maybe we won't be left behind," he said at the inauguration.


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21/02/25

German power industry split on capacity market design

German power industry split on capacity market design

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H2 sector warns of gaps in EU clean industry plans


20/02/25
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20/02/25

H2 sector warns of gaps in EU clean industry plans

Paris, 20 February (Argus) — Hydrogen industry participants have welcomed measures outlined in drafts of the EU's Clean Industrial Deal (CID) and an accompanying new state-aid framework, but have warned that important gaps remain. Based on a leaked draft, the CID will lay out a series of measures to accelerate hydrogen production and consumption , including adoption of a low-carbon hydrogen definition, another European hydrogen bank auction round and broader mechanisms aimed at industrial decarbonisation. The CID is due to be formally launched in the coming days. Part of the package is the Clean Industry State Aid Framework (CISAF), which would provide higher aid ceilings and more streamlined processes for hydrogen and other clean energy projects on a permanent basis. 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EU draft plan seeks to cut energy costs


19/02/25
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19/02/25

EU draft plan seeks to cut energy costs

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China's GoldWind offers first biomethanol spot cargo


19/02/25
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19/02/25

China's GoldWind offers first biomethanol spot cargo

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European industry body wants e-SAF auction mechanism


19/02/25
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19/02/25

European industry body wants e-SAF auction mechanism

London, 19 February (Argus) — A group of firms from Europe's aviation and hydrogen sectors has proposed a "double-sided" auction mechanism to unlock up to 300,000 t/yr of renewable hydrogen-based sustainable aviation fuel (e-SAF) supply in a bid to meet EU targets. In a letter to European Commission officials, the Project SkyPower group has proposed five "critical policy interventions" to boost e-SAF production and consumption. The letter was signed by more than 70 organisations, including aircraft makers Airbus and Boeing, airlines Air France-KLM, SAS and easyJet, project developers Norsk E-fuel, HIF and CIP, financing bodies ING and KGAL and industry groups Hydrogen Europe and Transport and Environment. The requests include a proposed auction mechanism similar to the German government-backed H2Global system for renewable hydrogen and derivatives that could be run by the same intermediary, Hintco, or another body. The intermediary body would hold 10-15 year purchase contract auctions for producers and then separate 3-5 year sale agreement auctions with buyers. The difference between production costs and buying prices would be bridged by revenues from the EU's Emissions Trading System (ETS), with a "short-term funding" pot of €3bn ($3.1bn) able to support between 100,000-300,000 t/yr of e-SAF production capacity, or between 2-6 50,000 t/yr plants, the Project SkyPower group said. This could be sufficient to cover roughly half the supply needed to meet the EU's binding target for e-SAF to constitute 1.2pc of all jet fuel consumed by 2030-31, the group said. The €3bn funding "would be equal to 20pc of total cumulative ETS revenues expected from aviation in the period 2030-39," Project SkyPower said. A first pilot round of the H2Global mechanism had included a specific pot for e-SAF production, but this was not allocated because of a lack of bidders . As the launch of a double-sided mechanism would take time to take effect, the EU should also establish a "bridging mechanism" that would guarantee priority access in the auctions for "the first few pioneering large-scale e-SAF projects" — which aim to reach a final investment decision by 2025-27 — Project SkyPower said. The group has urged clarity on the e-SAF mandates, saying a review of the ReFuelEU Aviation rules, scheduled for 2027, is creating uncertainty. EU member states should "be urged to publish transparent and harmonised penalty systems" this quarter, it said. More broadly, Project SkyPower wants the commission to make e-SAF a "strategic priority" in the bloc's Clean Industrial Deal. Argus is tracking 38 e-SAF projects in the EU that are planned or operational. These could together provide over 2mn t/yr of e-SAF if built as planned. But the vast majority are in very early development stages and no large-scale plant has yet reached a FID. By Jethro Robathan Send comments and request more information at feedback@argusmedia.com Copyright © 2025. Argus Media group . All rights reserved.

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