The German cabinet has approved a national hydrogen strategy focused on support for electrolysis, targeting 14 TWh of renewable hydrogen production by 2030, it said June 10.
The strategy makes no mention of specific support for carbon capture and utilization (CCU) which would help conventional production of hydrogen to decarbonize.
It does, however, talk of a "stakeholder debate" with energy-intensive sectors such as the chemical, steel, logistics and aviation industries on possible decarbonization methods other than green hydrogen.
"Germany is set to play a pioneering role as we did 20 years ago with the support for renewable energies," energy and economy minister Peter Altmaier said.
On June 3, the cabinet approved a Eur7 billion ($7.8 billion) package to reach 5 GW of electrolysis capacity by 2030.
Some 2 GW of this could be realized through quotas for green hydrogen used in refineries.
The strategy also plans out a 2% quota for renewable aviation jet fuel by 2030.
Altmaier said hydrogen was essential to decarbonize key industries such as steel and chemicals as well as transport.
The government estimates German demand for hydrogen could as much as double from a current 55 TWh (mainly grey hydrogen) to a range of 90 TWh-110 TWh by 2030.
The scale-up challenge is daunting.
For now, Europe's largest electrolyzer is a 10-MW facility being tested at Shell's Rheinland refinery.
A number of 100 MW electrolyzer projects have been proposed.
Germany's biggest power generator RWE on June 10 signed an agreement with steel maker ThyssenKrupp to potentially supply 70% of its green hydrogen demand for its Duisburg plant from its Lingen electrolyzer project by 2025 through the GetH2 project with the hydrogen transported via pipeline.
Green power limitations
Electricity system limitations could restrict production of green hydrogen to 16 TWh in Germany by 2030, a Prognos study for the energy ministry said June 5.
The estimate was based on annual growth in renewable capacity of 4.4 GW for onshore wind, 0.9 GW for offshore wind and 7.2 GW for solar PV.
For 2025, the power system's green hydrogen potential is limited to 4-6 TWh, it said.
The strategy estimates the green electricity demand of 5 GW electrolyzers at 20 TWh (based of 4,000 annual load hours, 70% electrolyzer efficiency).
The strategy also highlighted the need to avoid additional CO2 emissions in the power sector due to rising demand for hydrogen with Germany set to shut its final six nuclear reactors with a combined capacity of 8 GW by 2022 and phase-out coal-fired generation over coming decades.
Germany's government acknowledges that its decarbonization drive requires large amounts of green hydrogen imports with the coalition setting Eur2 billion aside for such projects abroad and a first cooperation signed with Morocco on a green hydrogen project. Cabinet ministers (economy & energy, environment, research, transport, development) jointly presented the strategy that was delayed by approximately six months due to internal debate about which types of hydrogen to support to meet the legally binding 2030 climate targets as well as the long-term 2050 decarbonization plan.
