Berlin. – The FDP parliamentary group in the Bundestag has submitted a small question regarding the “National Hydrogen Strategy” announced in June (19/23026) and would like to know in particular which criteria led to the decision to establish an “alliance for the development of the Power-to-X sector “to enter into with Morocco. The MPs point to the country's water shortage, which has been described in several reports, and ask what conclusions the federal government is drawing from this for the production of green hydrogen and for the efficiency of the alliance.
With the National Hydrogen Strategy (NWS), the federal government is providing two billion euros for international (energy) partnerships by 2023. As part of these international partnerships, Federal Development Minister Gerd Müller agreed an alliance with Morocco. According to the group, hydrogen production will begin in 2022 or 2025 at the latest. The project is being financed with 300 million euros by the Kreditanstalt für Wiederaufbau (KfW). In parallel to the efforts of the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMW), the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) is pushing forward hydrogen partnerships with West Africa, especially with Niger, and also wants to create a “Hydrogen Potential Atlas”. However, the BMZ has also announced a similar project called the “Green Hydrogen Potential Atlas”.
According to the National Hydrogen Strategy, “sustainable water supplies in partially arid regions of these countries must not be impaired by the production of hydrogen.” The FDP therefore had questions regarding the selection of the country Morocco, which the KfW describes as one of the “water-scarce countries and heavily affected by climate change”. Germany is supporting Morocco in the area of drinking water supply and wastewater disposal with around 960 million euros.
Due to the “fragmentation in the foreign trade promotion of hydrogen partnerships” as well as the “danger of double structures and inefficiency” that the FDP politicians can see, the parliamentary group would like to know, among other things, which criteria led to the decision to form an “alliance for the development of the power-to-energy”. X-Sector” with Morocco. In addition, the federal government should explain how and to what extent private investors and companies will be involved in the construction and operation of the hydrogen production plant there, what division of tasks there is between German, European and Moroccan partners, and whether, in addition to local self-sufficiency, in the The hydrogen partnerships planned by the federal government also include the export of hydrogen to Germany.
The government should also explain what ecological consequences it expects from Moroccan hydrogen production and what measures it is planning to mitigate these consequences so as not to endanger the goal of a sustainable water supply through hydrogen production. The FDP also wants to know details about the announced hydrogen partnership with Niger and other African countries.
Ultimately, the federal government should also explain the usefulness of the creation of two hydrogen potential atlases announced separately and in parallel by two ministries and explain whether further such atlases are planned in other federal ministries. Finally, the FDP asks for an assessment of the economic use of seawater for electrolysis and whether there are plans for this with or in the African hydrogen partner states.
deep link
https://dip21.bundestag.de/dip21/btd/19/230/1923026.pdf
https://www.bmwi.de/Redaktion/DE/Textsammlungen/Energie/internationale-energiepolitik.html?cms_artId=241494
Photos
The FDP parliamentary group in the Bundestag wants to know details about the hydrogen partnership. A “Power-to-X” workshop took place in Morocco in February 2029 as part of the German-Moroccan energy partnership (PAREMA) with the Research Institute for Solar Energy and New Energies (IRESEN) and in the presence of Energy Minister Rabbah. Two preliminary studies carried out by Fraunhofer IWES and institutes on the market and technologies for PtX (financed by IRESEN) were presented and discussed / © BMWi; GIZ
