(Berlin) - A “Hydrogen Atlas Germany” shows the current projects for the production and use of the energy source. With the tool, the locations of producers and consumers of PtX products as well as CO2 sources that are in operation can be displayed online at the four administrative levels “Germany”, “Federal State”, “Administrative District” and “District” under the title “Inventory”. , in planning or discontinued.
Accordingly, for example, there is “clear dominance” for hydrogen production in the north due to the very large wind potential there - not least because of the expected strong expansion of offshore wind power. There would also be large gas storage facilities that could also be used for hydrogen. “The north has everything you need: energy, pipeline networks, storage and industry,” says project manager Michael Sterner from the East Bavarian Technical University of Regensburg (OTH Regensburg) at the presentation. According to him, the atlas should help “activate stakeholders, raise awareness of the potential, make hydrogen tangible and bring it closer to people”.
The project is being developed in collaboration with the Association of German Mechanical and Plant Engineering (VDMA), and the data is continually updated. The atlas is funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) with 700.000 euros. The project, which started in 2021, is not yet finished, but will run until December 2023 - and there is still a lot to do until then.
So far only a few data
For example, at the country level, not much can be learned about the projects themselves beyond a few pieces of data. The operator, location, year of commissioning, performance of the electrolysers and the resulting product, such as hydrogen or synthetic kerosene, are mentioned. Details about the individual companies and consortia involved in the project would be desirable - such data is usually publicly available, especially if the companies receive funding. There are also gaps in actual or forecast demand - for example at some hydrogen filling stations.
According to Federal Research Minister Bettina Stark-Watzinger, the atlas provides a “potential and cost analysis”. The potential can be found - what lies behind a cost analysis has not yet been revealed from the work. The same applies to the “employment potential” mentioned by the minister during the presentation. But this should change, says Michael Sterner, because the German Institute for Economic Research (DIW) will also be involved in the future to analyze the workplace effects.
The minister announced in a statement that the atlas shows “where the use of hydrogen technologies” is worthwhile - but this is not yet clear either. What is inadequate is that numerous terms have not yet been translated from the English into the German version, for example, to stay with the example of Lower Saxony, the steel manufacturer Salzgitter AG uses hydrogen for “pig iron or steel” and in Lingen the energy source is an unidentified one Users are used for “mineral oil refining”.
Particular vigilance is required given the current status of the representation of numbers: the implementation of the number system used in Germany has not been completed everywhere. So far, for example, under the “Inventory evaluation” function you can read that the expansion of Lower Saxony’s electrolysis capacity is forecast to “2030” megawatts by 2,340 – the usual representation in this country would be “2.340” megawatts. This is confusing. If you are used to reading data and numbers in English, you should use the English version - at least until this has been reworked.
Conclusion: The atlas is currently only to be understood as an interim result and can be used to a limited extent in this sense. The project manager also pointed this out during the presentation. Overall, it is difficult to avoid the impression that the presentation came half a year too early - or was requested by the BMBF. Because on the same day it was announced that the minister was now going on a “summer tour” through the federal states. In his luggage: the “Hydrogen Atlas Germany”. The message is now obsolete: the minister postponed this trip - and is staying at home because of Corona.
Photos
Federal Research Minister Bettina Stark-Watzinger and Michael Sterner. © BMBF/Hans-Joachim Rickel
Link Hydrogen Atlas
