(Leipzig) – The development of an East German hydrogen economy offers great potential for sustainable value creation and CO2 savings. To achieve this, each federal state must contribute its specific strengths. In addition, politics, business and science should take a coordinated approach and act across federal states. “As a result, East Germany could compete better with other regions for sustainable hydrogen projects and funding.”
This is the result of a study “H2 Master Plan for East Germany” commissioned by the gas supplier VNG AG, Leipzig. The almost 90-page paper was created by the three Fraunhofer Institutes for Energy Infrastructures and Geothermal Energy (IEG), Systems and Innovation Research (ISI) and Ceramic Technologies and Systems (IKTS). The scientists analyzed “the opportunities and challenges in the new federal states” and worked out which measures “should be taken in the next few years to implement a sustainable hydrogen economy”.
Good conditions for H2 market ramp-up
The economic structure in East Germany therefore offers “excellent conditions for helping to shape the expected market ramp-up of hydrogen production and use”. There are a number of highly specialized and internationally renowned companies in mechanical and plant engineering as well as leading research institutions in the field of hydrogen and fuel cell technology.
The two federal states of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania and Brandenburg in particular have high potential for generating electricity from renewable energies. There is “an excellently developed storage infrastructure” in Saxony-Anhalt. Saxony, on the other hand, has a high level of expertise in the area of plant and mechanical engineering and Thuringia in the area of safety, measurement, control and regulation technology.
The majority of the players are currently concentrated in and around the centers of Dresden, Chemnitz and Berlin as well as in the Central German Chemical Triangle with the Leipzig/Halle metropolitan region. These clusters would therefore be located in the vicinity of larger cities that have college or university locations and in the catchment area of established industrial locations. Further clusters can be found near the seaport of Rostock and in the Magdeburg and Cottbus regions, with the availability of cheap wind power representing a location advantage, particularly on the Baltic Sea coast.
Great potential for H2 economy
The authors of the study attest that there is potential to develop an East German hydrogen economy. However, this potential needs to be expanded and used quickly, “because the competitive pressure on green hydrogen is high” and many regions and federal states are currently positioning themselves.
In all eastern German federal states there are established interministerial working groups, networks and other committees that are actively involved in the development of hydrogen strategies. However, the scientists warn that so far there has been a lack of “fundamental and at the same time constant political coordination across the borders of the new federal states that pools forces” and enables the initiation of larger joint projects: “In this way, synergy effects could be identified and leveraged, with the federal states taking on one another can focus on their respective strengths.” In addition, a weak point of the new federal states – large companies with hardly any financial strength, difficult access to capital – will be at least partially remedied.
The study proposes to create a “Hydrogen Agency East Germany” committee, which is made up of representatives from interministerial working groups as well as representatives from business and science and which controls the design and implementation of the master plan.
The sum of all potential for the use of hydrogen in East Germany results in a potential hydrogen demand of around 37 terawatt hours. “This needs to be raised,” says the study.
“H2 master plan for East Germany” (ed.: Fraunhofer IEG). The study is available free of charge as a PDF (88 pages).
http://www.h2-masterplan-ost.de/wp-content/uploads/sites/11/2021/05/H2-Masterplan-fuer-Ostdeutschland.pdf
Photos
Bad Lauchstädt Energy Park: Real-world laboratory for the intelligent production, storage, transport, marketing and use of green hydrogen. © Torsten Proß/Jeibmann Photography
