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The decision has finally come. In mid-February 2024, the European Commission approved 24 German IPCEI projects aka Important Projects of Common European Interest. Within the framework of IPCEI Hydrogen, funding is granted to large-scale projects across the entire hydrogen value chain – from H2 production and transportation to storage infrastructure and industrial deployment.
After all, the Ampel Coalition leading the German federal government did reach an agreement shortly before the end of the year. And the ramp-up of the hydrogen economy will – again after all – not be completely slowed down, but will continue. But: Among others, the subsidies for erecting refueling and charging infrastructure (“Zuschüsse zur Errichtung von Tank- und Ladeinfrastruktur”) will sink in the climate fund Klima- und Transformationsfonds 2024 by 290 million euros (from 2.21 to 1.92 billion euros), and – the second but – the framework until now was and is for the ramp-up of the hydrogen economy in Germany simply not sufficient.
“Life punishes those who arrive too late” is the famous Gorbachev quote. The inverse could be applied to hydrogen at this time: The stock market punishes those who come too early. The shares of H2 companies are trading at a price level as if the supermolecule has no future. Far from it! The stock market wisdom of contrary opinion recommends doing the opposite of what the majority of investors are doing at the stock market.
Hydrogen is not an end in itself, but an important building block for the transition to climate-friendlier infrastructures. An absolute prerequisite for this is the additional expansion of renewable energies. The recent decision by the EU Parliament has left this hanging in the balance.
For the...
The looming climate crisis and the inadequate diversification regarding energy source countries made visible by the Russian aggression in Ukraine is evidence that more speed is needed in the energy transition. Hydrogen will play an important role in the energy systems of the future. Due to this time...
It’s kicking off in the USA: The Inflation Reduction Act with its billions in funding (369 billion USD), among other things for the ramp-up of the hydrogen economy, is giving hope. I was able to witness this myself live via video stream at the 2nd Hydrogen Americas Summit. In Washington, many board...
The market ramp-up of electrolysis is a significant constraining factor for the mass production of green hydrogen. In an article that appeared recently in Nature Energy we analyzed possible pathways for expanding electrolyzer capacity in the European Union and around the world (Odenweller et al...
In April 2022, the German association for gas and water standards DVGW founded the “H2-Kompetenzverbund der deutschen Energiewirtschaft” to promote the use of hydrogen and the market ramp-up of H2 technology in Germany by pooling expertise. In this uniting of various institutes of the DVGW research...
Our society is facing great challenges. The climate targets for 2030 (Klimaziele 2030) must be achieved without negatively impacting our mobility and Germany as an economic center. To reduce greenhouse gas emissions, in addition to new battery electric and fuel cell vehicles, existing vehicles must...
The realization that we need a lot of green hydrogen very quickly, not only in Germany and Europe, but also worldwide, is becoming more and more widespread. Germany has already made the decision to phase out nuclear energy and coal. And after Putin’s attack on Ukraine, natural gas is also under...
On October 26th, 2021, the German national association for hydrogen and fuel cells (Deutsche Wasserstoff- und Brennstoffzellenverband, DWV) celebrated its 25-year anniversary at the Vertretung Niedersachsen in Berlin and appropriately held a parliamentary evening with numerous prominent participants. A central theme was that DWV has been advocating for a sustainable hydrogen and fuel cell industry since 1996 and now also expects agreement from the new federal government on a detailed, concrete roadmap for the ramp-up of an H2 economy.
