(Berlin) - In a draft resolution for the Federal Council (DS 647/20), the states of Lower Saxony and Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania are calling on the federal government to “implement the measures contained in the National Hydrogen Strategy as quickly as possible”. The use of hydrogen in Germany is therefore equivalent to the use of green hydrogen. This requires a “technology ramp-up and a domestic market, especially for demonstration systems”. This “must be developed now, without the corresponding amounts of green hydrogen currently being available”. The production of green hydrogen should be exempt from the EEG surcharge for the depreciation period of the systems.
Legal framework still required in this legislature
In addition, in order to create a European market for green hydrogen and the resulting products made from it, a clear classification or certification of green hydrogen at the European level is required. The Federal Government is therefore called upon to make appropriate adjustments to the European legal framework as quickly as possible and to implement national solutions.
The paper states that legislative action is required during this legislative period to ensure the production, transport and storage of hydrogen to the extent required by energy and climate policy. The federal government should therefore “present a draft of a hydrogen infrastructure law in a timely manner”.
The responsible committees recommend that the Federal Council adopt the original template submitted at the beginning of November in a slightly modified version. The members of the committees consider it necessary, among other things, that “the levy, tax and contribution system in the energy sector is subject to a fundamental reform and is further developed in a systematic, sector-coupling-friendly, decarbonization-oriented and technology-open manner”. This also includes a gradual reduction in the EEG levy, for example for hydrogen electrolysis plants.
The federal government's efforts to exempt the production of green hydrogen from the EEG levy, announced in the 2030 climate protection program and decided with the national hydrogen strategy, should also be included in such a fundamental reform. The levy exemption must be implemented by law immediately.
In addition, the conditions for the implementation of projects for the production, use, storage and transport as well as the import of hydrogen must be created in good time. This includes, in particular, an adjustment of planning and approval law as well as the further inclusion of hydrogen infrastructure in demand planning. This is the only way to achieve the expansion goals anchored in the national hydrogen strategy.
Not just green, but also turquoise
Compared to the original template, the committees added, among other things, "that in addition to green hydrogen, other climate-neutral forms of hydrogen, such as in particular turquoise hydrogen (i.e. hydrogen that was produced via the thermal splitting of methane) will also be of great importance." According to expert opinion, the leading economic committee told the plenary session, the production capacity of green hydrogen in Germany “will not be nearly sufficient to meet the increased demand due to the planned conversion of industrial processes and use in some areas of transport (aviation and shipping, commercial vehicles). cover up". Therefore, large quantities of green hydrogen would also have to be imported, but other forms of climate-neutral hydrogen production would also have to be developed and used.
The proposal was introduced into the state chamber at the beginning of November by Lower Saxony's Prime Minister Stephan Weil. The state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania has joined. The draft resolution now recommended by the committees is on the agenda for the next Federal Council meeting on November 27, 2020.
deep link
https://www.bundesrat.de/SharedDocs/beratungsvorgaenge/2020/0601-0700/0647-20.html
https://www.bundesrat.de/SharedDocs/drucksachen/2020/0601-0700/647-1-20(neu).pdf?__blob=publicationFile&v=1
Photos
Federal Council building in Berlin / © Bundesrat
