Prime Minister Stephan Weil sees good opportunities for close cooperation between Lower Saxony and Portugal in the development of a hydrogen economy and the expansion of renewable energies.
"Portugal would like to start exporting green hydrogen - there is certainly great interest in Germany and Lower Saxony," said the SPD politician to the German Press Agency on Tuesday at the end of a trip to Lisbon.
Lisbon / Hanover - Weil had been meeting there with representatives from politics, business and society since Sunday.
"Our industry will need enormous amounts of hydrogen in the future during the transformation, and we will probably have to continue to import some of it," said the head of government from Hanover. "If we succeed in installing a hydrogen terminal in Wilhelmshaven, for example, that would be good prospects, also for German-Portuguese cooperation." The Jade City has been considering building such a system for a long time.
Hydrogen is a good storage medium to compensate for fluctuations in the power grid when renewable sources such as wind and solar power deliver peak loads or are idle. It can also be used in industrial processes instead of fossil fuels in order to improve the CO2 balance. A hydrogen infrastructure is also to be built in Germany - but that is expensive, and there is some criticism of it, similar to the construction of new power lines.
For the generation of elementary hydrogen by splitting water (electrolysis), a lot of electricity is required, which should come from renewable sources if possible.
"Portugal has a lot of water around it, a lot of wind, and it's a very sunny country," said Weil.
"This is not only good for tourism, it also offers great potential for building a green hydrogen economy and for further expanding renewable energies."
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In April 2022, Portugal will be the partner country of the world's largest industrial show, the Hanover Fair.
Weil was accompanied by a 16-strong delegation, including Exhibition Director Jochen Köckler.
Weil also visited a location of the new VW digital division.
“It almost feels like a start-up in the middle of a large corporation,” he said.
The branch in Lisbon will be expanded significantly, from 230 to 450 experts.
"It's a young, agile workforce."
There was also talk of tourism and housing.
Weil explained that the loss of living space in holiday centers due to rental portals - also a problem in some German places - had prompted the politicians in Portugal to step up into public and social housing construction.
Many people in the country criticized the “touristification” of living space, he said: “You have to be careful that such tendencies do not completely collapse the housing market, especially in tourist strongholds.” Dpa
