(Magdeburg, Germany) – The development of hydrogen production, storage, and transport capacities, along with the further expansion of renewable energies, could create around 27.000 additional jobs in Saxony-Anhalt by 2045. This would also generate added value of €1,5 billion per year. These findings come from the report "Strategic Implementation of the State Hydrogen Strategy of Saxony-Anhalt" by the Cologne-based consulting firm r2b Energy Consulting, commissioned by the Ministry of Energy.
“Strategic implementation of the state hydrogen strategy of the state of Saxony-Anhalt” © Ministry of Science, Energy, Climate Protection and the Environment
Energy Minister Armin Willingmann says the study shows that Saxony-Anhalt “can develop into a leading region for the production and use of climate-neutral hydrogen if we continue to set the right course.” A central prerequisite is the accelerated expansion of renewable energies, which is needed for the production of hydrogen. In addition, the further development of network and storage infrastructures as well as investments in production capacities are “critically important”.
Increase in wind power and PV necessary
According to the study, hydrogen demand will increase from the current ten terawatt hours to 2045 terawatt hours by 23. The consumers primarily included energy-intensive companies that could not electrify their production with renewable energies, such as the chemical industry and the glass, cement and steel sectors. The demand for renewable energy by the specified period is nine gigawatts of wind power and 6,6 gigawatts of solar power. The installed capacity of wind turbines is currently 5,3 gigawatts and 4,3 gigawatts of photovoltaic systems.
According to the report, 75 percent of green hydrogen could be produced economically profitably in Saxony-Anhalt in 2045 and a further 25 percent could be imported from other countries.
58 million for network expansion
According to Willingmann, Saxony-Anhalt wants to invest more than 58 million euros in the expansion of the nationwide hydrogen core network “in the coming years,” with a further 130 million euros coming from the federal government. The ministry is also supporting hydrogen projects, for example through the “Saxony-Anhalt Future Energies” program launched at the beginning of January 2024 to promote investments by private and public companies “for the intelligent coupling of the energy sectors” with 115 million euros.
The present report examined possible paths for the hydrogen economy in Saxony-Anhalt up to 2045. Since these “also depend significantly on national, European and global framework conditions,” it is said, different scenarios were initially formulated: The “Conservative,” “Basic,” and “Progressive” scenarios each covered optimistic developments for the hydrogen economy and differed primarily in terms of the level, composition, distribution and structure of the demand. In order to cover “the great uncertainty regarding future techno-economic parameters of hydrogen electrolysis”, these varied across the scenarios in question.
Green electricity via PPA
For example, a uniform framework for the production and use of green hydrogen was specified. For 2030, the supply of green electricity to electrolysers via a power purchase agreement (PPA) has been identified as the “dominant regulatory generation constellation”. For the year 2045, in which a decarbonized electricity system can be assumed, “the use of unlabeled grid electricity is possible and probably predominant”.
Estimation of the expansion of renewable energies and the development of the number of electrolysis in Saxony-Anhalt in the main scenarios. © Ministry of Science, Energy, Climate Protection and the Environment
Both constellations suggested the spatial decoupling of electrolysis and power generation plants. In order to estimate the potential available for the latter in future years, additional potential area analyzes were carried out for PV and wind energy within Saxony-Anhalt. Result: Over the years, conventional hydrogen is expected to be displaced by the production and import of green hydrogen. However, in 2030, “a non-negligible transitional share of hydrogen produced based on fossil energies” will remain.
However, electrolyzers and storage systems would complement each other: the higher the market share of green hydrogen produced by electrolysis, the more active the storage use. According to the analysis, the storage facilities serve to balance supply and demand over time and space.
The report “ Strategic Implementation of the State Hydrogen Strategy of Saxony-Anhalt ” is available free of charge as a PDF (170 pages).
On April 11, 2024, the Ministry of Science, Energy, Climate Protection and Environment of the State of Saxony-Anhalt invites you to the "Hydrogen Forum East". The results of the hydrogen report will be explained, and developments and projects will be presented ( registration online ).
Photos
The Ministry of Energy commissioned the report “Strategic implementation of the state hydrogen strategy of the state of Saxony-Anhalt”. © MWU / Norman Edner
