How important is hydrogen for Germany's energy mix?

DW (English)

Germany and the EU have been strong advocates for hydrogen development even though mass commercialization is still years away. But Germany is willing to play the long game to make its energy mix greener and cleaner.

Transcript

00:01Germany's investment in renewables is starting to bear fruit.

00:05Hydrogen, or H2O, is capable of virtually anything in the fight against climate crisis, the German government once said.

00:13Now, across the country, hydrogen-related projects are taking off.

00:17Here in the state of Thuringia in eastern Germany,

00:20a pilot plant that will produce green hydrogen using SOEC electrolyzer technology has opened its doors.

00:27The goal is to start small, but produce up to 300 GW of hydrogen.

00:32The SOEC technology, and I sometimes call it the Swiss Army knife of electrolysis, can do so many different things.

00:40So it can produce green hydrogen and such address, in particular those industries that have a requirement for that,

00:48like steel production, like ammonia production.

00:52The technology being developed here isn't just for producing climate-friendly hydrogen.

00:57It's also aimed at facilitating energy storage and producing climate-friendly steel.

01:02For the developers of this technology, the Fraunhofer IKTS Institute,

01:06the important thing is this stacking technology that they spent almost three decades refining.

01:11For them, this is the game changer.

01:14Due to the high temperature, which is a big advantage, we can generate green hydrogen with much higher efficiency.

01:21So roughly 30% less power for the same amount of hydrogen compared to other technologies.

01:27This is one advantage.

01:28The other advantage is it cannot only produce green hydrogen out of water.

01:33It also can use CO2 out of the environment and you reduce this to CO to make so-called syngas.

01:43It's a combination of green hydrogen, H2 and CO.

01:46And from this we can make all kinds of chemical products, also e-fuels like kerosene for flying,

01:53diesel for driving cars and things of this nature.

01:56Could this technology bring Germany's climate goals within reach?

02:00Most European countries have goals to reduce their carbon emissions drastically by 2030.

02:06That means five years more to implement green policies.

02:09Both the EU and Germany have been strong advocates for hydrogen development,

02:14even though mass commercialization is still years away.

02:17A few hours away from this pilot plant in western Germany,

02:20the region's biggest H2 filling station for cars is ready for clients.

02:25We need to ramp up production.

02:30Europe needs climate neutrality in the transport sector too.

02:34And hydrogen filling stations that can refuel buses, garbage trucks and all sorts of trucks

02:41are making a very important contribution to this.

02:44It's worth noting, though, that only a tiny fraction of cars in Germany

02:49and only two available models operate on this kind of fuel.

02:53But Germany is willing to play the long game with hydrogen to make its energy mix greener and cleaner.

02:58and cleaner.

02:59and cleaner.

03:00and cleaner.

03:01and cleaner.

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