"The Hydrogen Acceleration Act is an important step for the hydrogen ramp-up in Germany. This law can make a significant contribution to achieving the goals of the national hydrogen strategy."

"By digitizing and streamlining processes, approval and planning procedures can be significantly accelerated. At the same time, there are still hurdles in approval procedures for power-to-X plants and a lack of a standard for electrolyzers, which urgently need to be addressed," says VDI expert Kevin Hares from the VDI Society for Energy and Environment.

The VDI addresses both aspects and is currently working on solutions.

The introduction of maximum deadlines for water law approvals, making it easier to start measures early, shortening the appeals process and implementing expedited procedures more quickly could help to speed things up, according to the VDI. The law affects plants for the production, storage and import of hydrogen, which form the core of the hydrogen economy. The widespread availability of hydrogen means that the ramp-up can finally gain momentum.

However, the sticking point remains the approval process for Power-to-X systems . The process is complex and involves various processes that must be carried out in contact with different departments at the responsible authorities. This leads to major hurdles, especially for start-ups and young companies without their own approval departments.

In order to improve this process, the VDI has developed a guideline for the approval of power-to-X plants ( VDI-EE 4635 Sheet 4.1 ). The expert recommendation provides a summary of the necessary procedures as well as the relevant laws and regulations, whereby electrolysis plants are also taken into account as a power-to-gas process. The VDI is in favor of the Hydrogen Acceleration Act aiming for simpler procedures at the regulatory level, thus saving costs and time in order to accelerate the hydrogen ramp-up.

As part of the Future Germany 2050 initiative, the VDI launched the Hydrogen Future Dialogue in June . Renowned experts from research, industry, politics and society from all areas of the value chain are taking part in the future dialogue and are working together on solutions for how the hydrogen ramp-up can be successful in Germany.

The need to accelerate the planning of electrolyzers was also taken up by the joint project "Standardization Roadmap for Hydrogen Technologies". An important instrument here is the development of a corresponding standard. This can make the planning of electrolyzers more efficient. The normative basis for this is currently being developed as a VDI guideline "Principles for the planning, design and operation of electrolyzers" . The guideline aims to simplify the planning and design of electrolysis projects by bringing together the knowledge gained so far from practice and recording it as the state of the art.

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