Germany said on Friday (28 May) it would invest \u20ac8 billion in 62 large-scale hydrogen projects, including electrolysers and pipeline infrastructure, as part of the country\u2019s bid to decarbonise its industry and become a world leader in the pioneering fuel technology.<\/p>\n
The economy and transport ministries selected 62 of 230 large-scale projects to receive state funding, which is expected to be matched with \u20ac33 billion of additional private investments.<\/p>\n
The infrastructure are classified as Important Projects of Common European Interest (IPCEI), meaning they will be able to receive government funding without having to observe the EU\u2019s usually strict state aid rules.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe want to become the world\u2019s number one in hydrogen technologies,\u201d said Economy Minister Peter Altmaier, pointing to the steel and chemical industries as key sectors where the use of hydrogen fuel could result in a significant reduction in carbon emissions.<\/p>\n
The lion\u2019s share of the funding will be directed towards building electrolysers and hydrogen pipelines. Germany\u2019s major steel manufacturers will receive \u20ac2 billion between them in funding for hydrogen related decarbonisation projects.<\/p>\n
\u201cCompanies competing internationally depend on political support for climate protection investments in order to make a decisive contribution to achieving climate targets,\u201d said Hans J\u00fcrgen Kerkhoff, president of the German Steel Federation (WV Stahl).<\/p>\n
Steel production has attractive prospects for cutting emissions, Kerkhoff added, given that a tonne of carbon neutral hydrogen could prevent 26 tonnes of carbon emissions in steel-making.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is an important milestone on the road to climate-neutral steel production and a strong signal from the German government,\u201d said Nils Pfennig of steelmakers thyssenkrupp, which is to receive funding for a hydrogen project in Duisburg.<\/p>\n
Steel decarbonisation projects near the French border have alarmed German environmental NGO Friends of the Earth Germany (BUND) that cross-border hydrogen networks risk subsidising hydrogen produced with nuclear power, which Germany itself is phasing out.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe German government must now immediately clarify from which energy sources the steel industry in Saarland is to be supplied. Should this also involve the use of nuclear hydrogen produced with French nuclear power, funding for the Saarland projects must be stopped,\u201d said Olaf Bandt of BUND.<\/p>\n
Hydrogen production is another key focus of the investment, with selected projects set to add 2 gigawatts (GW) of electrolyser capacity. Germany\u2019s hydrogen strategy foresees the country presiding over 5 GW of electrolyser capacity by 2030.<\/p>\n
Infrastructure to transport hydrogen is another priority, with funding allocated for 1,700 kilometres of new pipeline along the German-Dutch border and running west to east across Germany.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile BASF, the world\u2019s largest chemical manufacturer, will receive funding for carbon-free hydrogen manufacturing projects and hydrogen use projects such as ammonia production and sustainable aviation fuels.<\/p>\n
Transportation related projects such as fuel cell systems and vehicles are also slated to receive funding, albeit a smaller share than industry.<\/p>\n
\u201cTransport is still more than 95% dependent on the use of fossil fuels,\u201d said Transport Minister Andreas Scheuer. \u201cGreen hydrogen and fuel cells \u2013 across all modes of transport \u2013 are a super complement to battery-only vehicles,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
The projects, which all fall under the remit of the IPCEI scheme, benefit from not having to abide by the EU\u2019s strict state aid rules. The move had been criticised by some EU states and NGOs as it could be misused as a way to provide state aid to gas-based infrastructure and hydrogen production.<\/p>\n
The 62 projects selected must now pass state aid muster at the European Commission to progress further.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Germany said on Friday (28 May) it would invest \u20ac8 billion in 62 large-scale hydrogen projects, including electrolysers and pipeline infrastructure, as part of the country\u2019s bid to decarbonise its industry and become a world leader in the pioneering fuel technology. The economy and transport ministries selected 62 of 230 large-scale projects to receive state […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","nova_meta_subtitle":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[5571],"tags":[5818,5829,10630],"supplier":[1640,5585],"class_list":["post-88869","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-co2-based","tag-biofuel","tag-economy","tag-hydrogen","supplier-bund-fuer-umwelt-und-naturschutz-deutschland-ev-bund","supplier-european-union"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88869","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=88869"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88869\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=88869"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=88869"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=88869"},{"taxonomy":"supplier","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/supplier?post=88869"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}