energy transition
Scientists: Green hydrogen will be scarce for many years to come
Here in the Enertrag hybrid power plant in Prenzlau, green hydrogen is produced from wind power. Photo: Fabian Sommer / dpa
© dpa-infocom GmbH
It is considered an important part of the energy transition: green hydrogen. However, there is not yet enough in Germany to use it on a large scale in all industries. One solution could be the blue variant.
Green hydrogen is one of the great hopes of the energy transition in the fight against climate change.
According to scientists, however, until further notice, hydrogen should be reserved for applications in which direct electrification with green electricity is not possible – for example in industry, on long-distance flights and in shipping. The reason for the recommendation is the knowledge that green hydrogen will not be available in sufficient quantities for many years to come, as experts from six institutes show in a paper for the federally funded Copernicus project Ariadne.
Industry, long-distance flights and shipping
In order to cover only one percent of the final energy demand in the EU with domestic green hydrogen by 2030, its production must increase by around 70 percent per year from 2023 to 2030, said Falko Ueckerdt from the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research. It must grow as fast as solar energy and twice as fast as wind energy – in each case at its best.
Hydrogen, which is obtained exclusively with renewable energy, can serve as the basis for fuels and fuels, for example in order to replace the use of coal, oil and natural gas in industry and transport. The federal government therefore wants to promote the expansion of renewable energies from wind and sun in Germany. However, it assumes that a large part of the required amount of hydrogen will be imported for the foreseeable future.
Those are the sticking points
A sticking point is not only the still insufficient solar and wind energy, but also the production facilities for hydrogen. Hydrogen is created, for example, through the electrolysis of water, which is split into hydrogen and oxygen. It is true that significantly more production facilities are planned, said Ueckerdt. However, there is still no final investment decision for 80 percent of the projects announced for 2023. “So we see an industry that is basically ready to invest, but above all needs the political framework, the business case needs in order to really invest.”
Ueckerdt sees great uncertainty as to how quickly the production of hydrogen will grow: It could go faster than, for example, with solar energy, because there is, for example, the great political will to protect the climate and the great interest of financially strong companies. But it could also go more slowly: “Hydrogen is a new energy carrier. We are trying to do something that has never been there, namely to increase demand, infrastructure and supply at the same time. And that needs coordination, especially when it comes to infrastructure, which then also becomes international coordination. ” In this situation, the paper expressly recommends that the import of green hydrogen in particular be vigorously developed.
Blue hydrogen as a bridge
The scientists are also positive about hydrogen, which can already be obtained in large quantities from natural gas. “A“ blue hydrogen bridge ”could increase the supply of climate-friendly hydrogen and enable an earlier transformation to hydrogen,” says the paper.