Hamburg–The topic of hydrogen is currently dominating the renewable energy sector. The Renewable Energies Hamburg Cluster Agency, therefore, carried out a current survey of the “Potential of Hydrogen in the Renewable Energy Sector” in September among about 200 member companies.
The great interest in hydrogen also confirmed the above-average number of participants. About 100 experts from the corporate network took part in the survey.
EEHH Managing Director Jan Rispens: “We had a particularly strong response to this survey among companies. Nine out of ten respondents consider it very important that hydrogen technology is developed further in order to save fluctuating electricity from renewable energies and thereby increase the stability of the energy supply. 81 percent consider the role of hydrogen in sector coupling to be very important. These are clear numbers that speak clearly about the industry’s expectations of the technology. “
Potential uses of hydrogen
Various fields of application of hydrogen use are considered relevant by the sector members: About three-quarters of respondents advocate the use of green hydrogen as pure fuel and added to the regular natural gas system. 60 percent consider a conversion into biomethane (synthetic natural gas) to make sense.
With regard to the concrete applications of hydrogen, the majority sees future potential in medium- to long-term energy storage and mobility (about 85 percent each). More than 60 percent consider the time-shifted re-conversion of hydrogen to be an important application. Also, the heat supply could be an important area of application for hydrogen, according to half of the respondents, the industry, such as the energy-intensive chemical and steel production, also, by 40 percent of respondents.
The overall importance of hydrogen’s perspective on mobility is illustrated by the fact that 85 percent of respondents call for the equivalent promotion of fuel cell vehicles and e-cars in order to generate a predictable demand for green hydrogen. Almost two-thirds find that subsidizing hydrogen refueling station expansion and adding hydrogen to natural gas can guarantee a continuous and predictable basic purchase in an economically sensible way. The use of hydrogen is no distant dream of the future: about half of the industry experts say they already own H 2To advance projects. Among them: projects such as own hydrogen-powered vehicle fleet, research and pilot projects on sector coupling (including heat generation) and participation in real laboratories.
Improvement of the economy
There is no delay in integrating hydrogen into energy and transport systems: more than 80 percent see it as a matter of urgency that hydrogen technology continues to be researched and brought to market, even if hydrogen is not yet 100 percent sustainable with green electricity can be produced.
The greatest hurdles in the development of a large-scale hydrogen economy, the experts see in the current energy market regulation, the (associated) inadequate efficiency and lack of funding to build infrastructure (over 60 percent each). The minority can be discouraged by missing customers (22 percent), technical problems or the difficult scalability of technology (less than a fifth each).
synergies
More than 85 percent of respondents see the wind and hydrogen industries as closely linked in the medium term. 28 percent are even convinced that hydrogen production must become the second mainstay of the wind industry in addition to grid feed-in. Less than four percent see no integration of industries here for the foreseeable future.
The survey shows very clearly that an overarching strategy is desired: Not only the hydrogen strategy of the five coastal federal states is very important to more than two-thirds of the respondents; At around 90%, experts consider a nationwide hydrogen strategy even more important. The strongest desire is for the Federal Government to promote pilot projects. That’s what three quarters of respondents wanted.
The majority of companies were basically satisfied with the steps that had been taken at the federal level so far: In the “Real-time laboratories of the energy turnaround” proclaimed by the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy, two-thirds of respondents see a high or very high potential for future viability. The northern federal states in particular see themselves well positioned in Germany for promoting hydrogen technology with their projects. Internationally, Japan and other East Asian countries are considered role models for the development of hydrogen as a technology of the future.
Branch Network Renewable Energies Hamburg (EEHH):
With currently more than 190 companies and institutions, the EEHH bundles the competences of companies, research institutes and institutions from the metropolitan region of Hamburg in the renewable energy sector.
Source: Renewable Energy Hamburg
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