(Berlin) - The federal government supported energy research with around 2021 billion euros in 1,31. The funding went to 6.995 research, development and demonstration projects. 
Hydrogen was also on the agenda with a not insignificant amount of money. 2021 companies and research institutions with three central subject areas are involved in the hydrogen lead projects alone, which started in spring 200. 326 projects received around 48,64 million euros. In addition, last year the Federal Ministry of Research (BMBF) approved a further 328 projects with funding of around 688,48 million euros as part of these flagship projects. In addition, international project and research collaborations were concluded. This emerges from the latest federal report on the 7th Energy Research Program. We present some core projects from the 100-page paper.
H2Giga lead project: Series production of large-scale electrolysers
In order to meet Germany's need for green hydrogen, large capacities of efficient, robust and cost-effective electrolyzers are necessary. Although powerful devices are already on the market, their production is still largely done by hand, according to the project description. This is time-consuming and costly. 
H2Giga investigates technologies for the serial production of electrolyzers: for PEM electrolysis (Proton Exchange Membrane), alkaline electrolysis (AEL) and high-temperature electrolysis (HTEL). In addition, precious metal-free and highly efficient electrolysis with anion-conducting membrane (AEM) should be further developed. In the project, a total of 2021 partners will be funded with 2025 million euros from 115 to 449,2; further projects are still in the application phase. 500 million euros are available.
H2Mare lead project: offshore hydrogen production
Wind turbines produce more electricity at sea and more regularly than on land. H2Mare is researching how green hydrogen can be produced without a grid connection and with the help of offshore systems 
can be produced on the high seas. The direct coupling of wind turbines and electrolysers to produce hydrogen saves costs and relieves the burden on the local power grid. In addition to offshore hydrogen production, H2Mare also wants to research the offshore production of the Power-to-X products methane, methanol, ammonia and synthetic fuels (eFuels), as well as electrolysis using seawater. The federal government is funding the 32 partners involved in four associations with 2021 projects from 2025 to 45 with 104,5 million euros.
Lead project TransHyDE: Solutions for hydrogen transport
TransHyDE is testing options for transporting hydrogen. However, it is still unclear which solution should best be used where and to what extent
the research report. Examples of possible options include transport in high-pressure containers, liquid transport, transport in existing and new gas pipelines and the transport of hydrogen bound in ammonia or the carrier medium LOHC (Liquid Organic Hydrogen Carriers).
In order to accelerate the integration of these technologies into the energy system, this lead project initiates its own process to create a roadmap. TransHyDE considers “in addition to standards and norms as well as safety features, materials and sensors of transport technologies, the framework for a future hydrogen infrastructure”. Recipients of funding include 84 partners in ten associations with 105 projects. The funding for the period from 2021 to 2025 amounts to 134,8 million euros.
Real-world laboratories for projects
While the lead projects work to gain fundamental knowledge about technologies, the “real-world laboratories of the energy transition” specifically test specific local and regional projects in a real environment and on an industrial scale. They accelerated innovations “by closing the gap between research and energy industry practice,” says the balance sheet: “the dress rehearsal before market launch,” so to speak. A total of ten real-world laboratories have now started work, six of which started in 2021, five of which are in the area of “sector coupling and hydrogen technologies”.
H2-Wyhlen: Infrastructure for green hydrogen
H2-Wyhlen will expand and test the infrastructure for green hydrogen in Grenzach-Wyhlen, Baden-Württemberg, for five years. The research consortium is expanding an existing “power-to-hydrogen system” of the EnBW subsidiary Energiedienst by five megawatts of electrical power and testing this under real conditions. The Real laboratory started on January 1, 2021. The Center for Solar Energy and Hydrogen Research (ZSW), Dialogik gGmbH and Messer Industriegase GmbH are involved.
North German Real Laboratory: Reduce CO2 emissions
The 17 project partners want economic impulses Norddeutschland trigger. The aim of the joint project is to test how CO2 emissions in the region can be reduced by 2035 percent by 75. The work planned during the project period is intended to save 350.000 to 500.000 tons of CO2 per year and to decarbonize areas of production and life with high energy consumption.
Eight electrolysers with a hydrogen production capacity of 42 megawatts make a contribution to this. They are intended to replace fossil fuels in industrial processes with hydrogen and its derivatives. In the mobility sector, according to the project website, several hydrogen filling stations and over 200 vehicles will be tested in different usage scenarios. The large-scale approach gives the project a supra-regional model character for hydrogen-based sector coupling in Germany and Europe. (Funding amount: 52,3 million euros, project duration: 2021 to 2026).
Bad Lauchstädt: Value chain for green hydrogen
The real laboratory “Bad Lauchstädt energy parks“ wants to investigate the production, storage, transport and economic use of green hydrogen in Saxony-Anhalt in three project steps in order to develop Central Germany into a “hydrogen model region”, as it is called. 
The entire value chain for green hydrogen should be mapped. The electricity from a newly built wind farm will be used in a large electrolysis plant with an output of around 30 megawatts. A 20 kilometer long gas pipeline to be repurposed supplies the chemical industry in nearby Leuna. In addition, preparatory work will begin for storing the gas in a specially equipped, almost 2026 meter high salt cavern from 180 onwards. The funding amounts to around 34 million euros, and the total investments are said to be around 140 million euros.
H2Steel: Increase efficiency
In 13 blast furnaces, Germany produces around 27 million tonnes of pig iron every year, which is used to produce around 70 percent of Germany's steel. They emit an average of 1.530 kilograms of CO2 per ton. This is almost equivalent to the emissions caused by operating a car over a year, they say Project page.
However, modern blast furnaces are already so efficient that “CO2 emissions can no longer be significantly reduced in traditional operation with carbon-containing reducing agents.” The greenhouse gas is created during the process when the oxygen from the ore combines with the carbon from the coal to produce pure iron. Green hydrogen is considered the key. 
In Duisburg, this potential is now being gradually transferred into industrial practice in Thyssenkrupp Steel's blast furnace 9. In the H2Stahl real-world laboratory, the project partners are testing how the switch to sustainable technologies in steel production can be successful. A specially built pipeline supplies the required hydrogen. The consortium is analyzing how hydrogen behaves as a reducing agent during ongoing operations and how the process can be further optimized. “According to model calculations, using green hydrogen could reduce CO2 emissions from blast furnaces by around 20 percent.”
West Coast 100: Generation, Transport, Storage
In the real laboratory "West Coast 100In Schleswig-Holstein, the production of hydrogen from renewable energies, its transport in the gas network and storage in caverns is being researched and developed on an industrial scale. Ten companies are involved, as well as the Region Heide development agency and the West Coast University of Applied Sciences.
In the first phase, a newly founded joint venture “H2 Westend GmbH” is building a 30-megawatt electrolyzer. This will produce green hydrogen using electricity from offshore wind energy and provide insights into the operation, maintenance, control and utility of the system.
The energy source will be integrated into the existing process at the Heide refinery and is intended to replace gray hydrogen. In addition, part of it would be transported via a newly built pipeline to the Heide public utility company for feeding into the natural gas network. In a further step, a hydrogen filling station will be supplied. The results of the project serve as the basis for the construction of a 700 megawatt electrolysis plant. The investment costs total 89 million euros, the approved funding volume at the start of the project amounts to 30 million euros.
Hydrogen technology offensive
In addition, the BMBF and the BMWK launched research initiatives last year to increase the opportunities for climate protection, sustainable jobs and new value creation potential - such as the export industry. The basis for the national and international market ramp-up is laid by a series of individual projects. To this end, the “Hydrogen Technology Offensive” was initiated in 2021.
The first research project launched in this context is called “OptiLBO”. Energy-efficient and CO2-neutral steel production is being investigated. Because both production using ore (primary route) and extraction from scrap (secondary route) cause large amounts of CO2 due to the process.
In the secondary route, for example, the energy for the scrap melting process is provided in the form of electricity using an electric arc furnace, supported by gas-fired burners. A new, innovative burner system is intended to reduce current natural gas consumption by up to 25 percent. According to the research report, this means around five gigawatt hours of energy saved annually and 900 tons less CO2 emissions. In addition, the burner system should also be able to use renewable hydrogen. The Gas and Heat Institute Essen e. V. and three network partners will receive a total of 2021 million euros for the project period from 2025 to 2,6.
Energy research networks
Nine “Energy Research Networks” cover the topics of bioenergy, construction, energy system analysis, renewable energies, flexible energy conversion, industry and commerce, power grids, start-ups and hydrogen. The hydrogen research network is a measure of the National Hydrogen Strategy. In 2021, the more than 1.500 members developed expert recommendations on the research needs for building a hydrogen economy and handed them over to the BMWK in September 2021.
H2 compass for the value chain
The Federal Government's National Hydrogen Strategy provides a roadmap that provides a long-term framework for German research and innovation policy 
along the entire hydrogen value chain. The project “, jointly funded by the BMWK and the BMBFH2 compass“creates and evaluates application scenarios for hydrogen. The aim is to lay a basis for the development of the hydrogen roadmap. The project runs until 2023 and is funded with 4,3 million euros.
European networking in energy research
Germany participates in extensive European research, innovation and networking activities in the energy sector. The “Clean Hydrogen Joint Undertaking” (JU) succeeded the “Fuel Cells and Hydrogen Joint Undertaking” (FCH JU) in November 2021. This is intended to accelerate the improvement of clean hydrogen technologies along the entire value chain. Up to one billion euros will be made available for this purpose over the next seven years in the Horizon Europe research and innovation program, “supplemented by a further billion euros from private sources”.
In addition, an initiative on green hydrogen was launched in the context of the realignment of the European Research Area: “ERA Pilot on Green Hydrogen” is developing a European research and innovation agenda for the competitiveness of green hydrogen.
IPCEI: Large-scale transnational projects
At the European level, the market ramp-up is being driven forward by “Important Projects of Common European Interest” (IPCEI) for hydrogen technologies. The “Important Projects of Common European Interest” are intended to advance cross-border energy projects in Europe. Embedded in the National Hydrogen Strategy, the “IPCEI Hydrogen” was launched in December 2020 during the German EU Council Presidency by the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Protection together with 22 EU member states and Norway.
In May 2021, 62 large German projects were selected, including plans for generation plants with over two gigawatts of electrolysis capacity for the production of green hydrogen, innovative projects in the steel and chemical industries, and projects in the areas of infrastructure and mobility.
That is with over eight billion euros in funding from federal and state funds IPCEI hydrogen The largest European project of its kind to date, which is expected to trigger investments totaling 33 billion euros along the entire hydrogen value chain in Germany alone.
Master's program for Africa
The master program “GSP Green H2” was launched at an international level. Sub-Saharan Africa in particular has “great potential to generate green hydrogen using solar and wind energy,” says the report – more than is needed for local needs.
The production, use and export of green hydrogen not only requires new technologies, but also sufficient specialist knowledge. The “International Master Program in Energy and Green Hydrogen” is intended to initially qualify a total of 120 students from all 15 countries of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) for the future topic of “green hydrogen” in two rounds.
The two-year course is offered at four West African universities. The students will complete a semester and their final thesis in Germany. The WASCAL facility (West African Science Service Center on Climate Change and Adapted Land Use) and two other network partners will receive 2025 million euros for the project, which will run until 16,2.
International partnership for hydrogen and fuel cells
The International Partnership for Hydrogen and Fuel Cells in the Economy (IPHE) is an association of 21 countries and the European Commission. It accompanies and supports the commercialization of hydrogen and fuel cell technologies. To this end, IPHE bundles and coordinates the international activities of various sectors and departments. The Federal Government has been involved in the global forum since its founding.
International cooperation with Canada
In international hydrogen cooperation, Canada is a partner for Germany, particularly as a potential supplier of green hydrogen. In 2021, joint science and business projects were launched with the Canadian National Research Council (NRC). In addition, ten joint networking projects have been funded in collaboration with the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC) since October 2021.
International future laboratory for green hydrogen
The BMBF-funded International Future Laboratory “REDEFINE Hydrogen Economy (H2E)” began its research work at the Technical University of Munich in December 2021. It is dedicated to the environmentally friendly production of green hydrogen through novel technologies such as high-temperature electrolysis, innovative gasification of biomass and the synthesis of basic chemicals and energy sources. Scientists from 13 countries work in the future laboratory (Australia, Brazil, Germany, Italy, Canada, Lithuania, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Sweden, Switzerland, USA and United Kingdom).
The “Federal Energy Research Report 2022” was released in June. It is available free of charge as a PDF (100 pages).
graphics
The hydrogen lead projects deal with the production and transport of green hydrogen on land and at sea. © Projektträger Jülich on behalf of the BMBF
Photo Energy Park Bad Lauchstädt
Real-world laboratory for the intelligent production, storage, transport, marketing and use of green hydrogen. © Torsten Proß/Jeibmann Photography
Photo H2 Steel
The H2Stahl real-world laboratory is testing how the switch to sustainable technologies in steel production can be successful. The photo shows blast furnaces 8 and 9 from project partner Thyssenkrupp in Duisburg. © Thyssenkrupp
