German Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Association eV (DWV) Welcomes the Adoption of the National Hydrogen Strategy and Urges Haste

By June 12, 2020 4   min read  (692 words)

June 12, 2020 |

Hydrogen DWV 1

Berlin — DWV calls for swift regulatory implementation and industrial policy implementation of the National Hydrogen Strategy (NWS)

The DWV warmly welcomes today’s adoption of the NWS and its content. This far-sighted and coherent strategy paper is the cornerstone of a strong German hydrogen economy.

Since autumn 2018, the DWV has been calling on the federal government to consistently exploit the opportunities associated with the expected future hydrogen economy in terms of industrial policy.

The DWV has closely followed the development of the NWS with its expertise and will continue to be available to political decision-makers and industry as mediators and advisors.

With the NWS, the federal government has given the ministries a specification, so to speak, to create the regulatory requirements for a market ramp-up in the hydrogen economy in a timely manner.

Taking responsibility: nationally, globally, across generations

Thanks to the NWS, Germany will play a pioneering role and will be able to establish itself across generations as a driving force for a global hydrogen society to defossilize the global economy.

However, Germany will not be able to meet its demand for renewable electricity with domestic production anywhere near. As a result, Germany will have to rely on significant amounts of imports of renewable energy in the future. And these import quantities can only be managed with hydrogen, which of course should be green. But this also harbors an enormous industrial, energy and geopolitical one

Opportunity that should be used to the maximum in the interest of the German economy.

Market economy instead of funding

The NWS and the economic stimulus package have promised over EUR 9 billion in funding for the market ramp-up of a hydrogen economy. This is a good and important signal to the industry.

The Federal Government sees a need of 20 GW by 2030 for green hydrogen. With domestic production of 5 GW, as mentioned in the NWS, this implies an import requirement of 15 GW or 75%. However, a Fraunhofer study for the BMVI had already predicted at least 50 GW of electrolysis capacity for 2030 in 2018. Regardless of the target path used: by 2021 at the latest, there must be regulatory framework conditions that allow investment-safe decisions to be made by the actors.

National corporate executives have repeatedly assured the DWV that at least 20 GW of electrolysis power could be delivered and installed by 2030. An even stronger focus on the timely design of suitable regulatory frameworks would therefore be desirable in order to ensure a market-based ramp-up of the hydrogen economy of at least 20 gigawatts by 2030. This is the only way for the Federal Government to secure a long-term, investment-proof framework for the individual actors and, at the same time, create 35,000 to 70,000 new jobs.

Establish home market – formulate ambitious goals

It is good and right that the NWS addresses the home market for the construction of the electrolysis plants for the production of green hydrogen. Unfortunately, one cannot speak of ambitious goals at the NWS. All politicians see green hydrogen as the future energy source that will play the role of oil today.

The DWV agrees, especially in the mobility sector. In the future, fuel cell mobility will have to be and can be a central component in achieving the climate goals. Against this background, the Federal Government must invest even more ambitiously in fuel cell mobility.

Seek opportunities and seize opportunities

There is a rare agreement between politics, science, and business that hydrogen as an energy carrier and storage will play an outstanding role for future generations.

For this reason, from the point of view of the DWV, it is imperative to immediately begin with the operational implementation of the measures of the action plan after the adoption of the NWS and to enable the objectives in the strategic fields of action with far-sighted and clever legal acts. Resting on what has been achieved would be a fatal sign against the domestic economy and international competition!

With all of these goals, all the actors involved should go ahead courageously. The DWV will continue to follow this path and will also demand this from politics and business!

Source: DWV

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