Before the start of the international hydrogen conference on Monday in Berlin, Federal Minister of Economics Peter Altmaier (CDU) campaigned for the creation of a common market for the potentially climate-friendly technology in Europe.
“Green hydrogen is a key energy carrier of the future that we need on the way to climate neutrality”, explained Altmaier. “We must therefore now set the course in the EU for a European market with common rules.”
Altmaier announced that he wanted to push the subject of hydrogen “with all his might” during the German EU Council Presidency, which the Federal Republic will hold until the end of the year. According to Altmaier, international partners will also be involved in the production of CO2-neutral hydrogen. Participants in the conference are EU Energy Commissioner Kadri Simson, the head of the International Energy Agency, Fatih Birol, and Ann Mettler from Gates Ventures, an initiative by Microsoft founder Bill Gates.
The conference wants to discuss how more hydrogen can be used in Europe in the future. Central questions are how the necessary investments in infrastructure, among other things, can be ensured and how the legal framework for a competitive market for the energy source can be created.
The EU Commission wants to make Europe a pioneer in the use of hydrogen as an energy carrier. To this end, the Brussels authority presented a strategy and a partnership with industry in July to make the use of hydrogen on a broad scale possible by 2050. So-called green hydrogen, which is generated with the help of solar or wind energy, should have priority. In a transition period, however, other forms of production using fossil fuels are also to be promoted.
Hydrogen occurs in many ways in nature, for example in water. In practice, however, it is almost only available in bound form. For use as an energy carrier, hydrogen must therefore be obtained in pure form using other energy sources. If this energy use is emission-free, we speak of green hydrogen.
Source: AFP
Read the most up to date Fuel Cell and Hydrogen Industry news at FuelCellsWorks
