Germany, Benelux must cooperate better to play key role in hydrogen economy – report

Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg are well positioned to play a key role in a future global hydrogen economy - but must strengthen cooperation on infrastructure projects, said a report by the World Energy Council (WEC) Germany, a business-dominated network of energy industry stakeholders. Closer partnership would help reach climate neutrality objectives faster and easier, said the report. “Coordination of support mechanisms, such as joint market incentive programmes, can accelerate the market ramp-up across the region,” said author Stefan Ulreich from the Biberach University of Applied Sciences. Joint planning of the required infrastructure (port terminals, pipelines, storage) would enable better distribution of hydrogen to avoid any supply bottlenecks, he added. WEC Germany managing director Carsten Rolle said that northwestern Europe could become a “nucleus for a European H2 network”, because it already is one of the world’s best-connected regions in terms of industry and infrastructure.

Hydrogen made with renewable electricity is increasingly seen as a silver bullet in the fight against climate change for sectors with particularly stubborn emissions, such as heavy industry and aviation. Germany has set out to become a global leader in the associated hydrogen technologies. Aside from the leading chapter on the “reorientation of the gas and hydrogen infrastructure in Northwest Europe”, this year’s edition of the annual energy report by WEC Germany lays out key energy data from 2022. Members of the WEC Germany include research institutes and consultancies, energy suppliers such as RWE, associations like the German Association of the Automotive Industry (VDA), or grid operators like Amprion.