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The EU Commission has given the green light for billions in funding for hydrogen projects.
© Oliver Berg/dpa
Hydrogen should play a central role in the energy and climate transition.
But this is unlikely to work without government support.
The EU Commission has now given the green light for billions in aid.
Brussels/Berlin - The development of a hydrogen economy has taken an important step forward.
The European Commission has allowed a total of 33 important hydrogen infrastructure projects to be funded with state money in several EU countries.
These include 24 projects in Germany.
It's about the construction of electrolyzers, storage facilities, pipelines and transshipment terminals.
State aid is subject to strict rules in the EU to avoid distortion of competition.
The projects were classified as Important Projects of Common European Interest (IPCEI).
After approval at EU level, national funding notices will now be issued promptly, as the Federal Ministry of Economics reported in Berlin.
According to the information, the federal government and the respective federal states want to contribute around 4.6 billion euros to the 24 projects.
German companies would invest a further around 3.4 billion euros.
It is already the third IPCEI to promote the hydrogen industry.
Kai Tenzer, spokesman for the GetH2 hydrogen initiative, in which companies from industry and the energy sector take part, expressed his satisfaction with the decision.
The release of funding by the EU is an important basis for the final investment decisions, he explained.
As part of the GetH2 initiative, RWE and BP are to fund the construction of two electrolysers in Lingen, Lower Saxony.
Hydrogen is produced with these devices.
It is also about the construction of a new cavern storage facility at an existing gas storage site for the storage of hydrogen (RWE) and the development of a hydrogen network by converting existing lines and building new sections (Nowega, OGE, Thyssengas).
“The funded projects form the core of building one of the first domestic value chains for hydrogen.
The lines create a connection to industrial sectors in North Rhine-Westphalia, including steelworks, chemical parks and refineries,” Tenzer continued.
There was also the green light for funding projects by the energy company EWE, which are summarized under the heading “Clean Hydrogen Coastline”.
These include, among other things, two electrolysers in Emden and Bremen, pipelines and a storage project.
“For the federal government, it is essential to strengthen the German hydrogen economy along the entire value chain in order to enable a rapid market ramp-up,” explained Economics Minister Robert Habeck.
The German IPCEI line projects are a central element for the hydrogen core network.
“Together with the companies and the federal states, we can now quickly begin implementation.”
The responsible EU Commissioner, Margrethe Vestager, announced that the hydrogen produced will be available to companies in the steel, cement, chemical and refinery sectors as well as the mobility sector by mid-2027.
This is intended to significantly reduce climate-damaging CO2 emissions.
According to the information, part of the project is also an offshore pipeline project in Germany, through which hydrogen is to be produced using wind energy from the North Sea.
dpa