Germany Eyes New Offshore Wind Farms Dedicated to Green Hydrogen Production

by Bernd Radowitz (ReCharge) Move would be a world first in fast-moving sector — part of government plans to spend billions of euros to build up an industrial-scale domestic market for green H2 -- Germany is considering holding special offshore wind tenders to produce green hydrogen at an industrial scale, according to the draft of a national hydrogen strategy by the economics and energy ministry seen by Recharge.

Awarding areas at sea exclusively for hydrogen production is one out of 34 measures the ministry suggests in a 21-page draft document that will now undergo the scrutiny of other ministries before being presented by economics and energy minister Peter Altmaier.

“The designation of areas that can be used for the off-shore production of hydrogen, the necessary infrastructure and options for additional tenders for the generation of renewable energies will be relevant topics (implementation from 2020),” the draft stresses without giving more specific detail on when special tenders may be held or what volume they could have.

“Due to the high full load hours, wind energy at sea is an attractive technology for generating renewable electricity, which can be used for the production of CO2-free hydrogen,” it explains.

Simone Peter, president of Germany's influential renewable energies federation (BEE), at a reception yesterday that had Altmaier as guest cautioned that any imports must be only of green hydrogen and only if that doesn't come at the price of scaling down renewable energy ambitions at home.

"It mustn't happen that we speculate about giant hydrogen imports that in the end may even be of fossil origin, if at the same time wind power is collapsing at home and solar and bio energy have to be capped," Peter said.

"Hydrogen must be green. It is too valuable to apply it where renewables can be employed directly."

For the domestic part of hydrogen supply, the government in its proposal suggests Germany to build up the potential to produce hydrogen from at least 3, if possible 5GW of electrolysis capacity, and targets that Germany should be able to cover about 20% of its needs for CO2-free hydrogen by 2030.

In the medium term, Germany wants to opt massively for green hydrogen in sectors that are otherwise difficult to decarbonise, such as transport (buses, lorries, some trains, shipping, aviation), in heavy industries (steel, cement), and in the longer run heating. Hydrogen is also seen as a flexible means of energy storage. READ MORE