Southwestern German industry worries about being left out of hydrogen core grid – media

Industry in southwestern Germany worries it will be left behind as planning for the country's core hydrogen grid advances. According to a survey among regional chambers of industry and commerce conducted by business daily Handelsblatt, many companies worried they will not be able to participate in the transition. "The region and its economic importance are completely disregarded in the current planning status of the core grid," Andreas Truttenbach, vice president of industry chamber IHK Oberrhein, told the newspaper. Jan Stefan Roell, head of the Ulm Chamber of Industry and Commerce, said that hydrogen is the only way for many companies to achieve their climate targets, and thus it was regrettable that the state of Baden-Württemberg and its industry "will not be sufficiently covered by the planned hydrogen core network." Gas network operators would submit their construction applications for Germany's hydrogen core grid to the federal network agency (BNetzA) on 22 July, wrote Handelsblatt.

Germany's hydrogen core network is set to supply key sectors that cannot easily switch to direct use of electricity to lower emissions with the green fuel, such as cement production and the chemicals industry. The 9,700-kilometre pipeline network to transport hydrogen across the country and to its neighbours will consist mainly of repurposed gas pipelines. "The core network is the starting point for the development of a Germany-wide hydrogen infrastructure and will continue to develop in other regions in the coming years," Handelsblatt quoted the Association of Gas Transmission System Operators (FNB) as saying. The pipeline network is meant to connect key hydrogen supply locations with demand centres step by step. Originally, completion was planned for 2032, but it a delay of several years is likely, wrote Handelsblatt.