Enlarge image
Ship with hydrogen injection system
Photo:
Stefan Sauer/dpa
When looking for trading partners for the future import of climate-friendly hydrogen, Germany should concentrate on European countries such as Spain and Norway. The Fraunhofer Institute for Systems and Innovation Research comes to this conclusion in its recommendations for the federal government's hydrogen import strategy. Accordingly, green hydrogen not only depends on low electricity costs at the place of production, but also on manageable transport distances and access to cheap financing.
The authors predict that many countries, including China and the USA, could largely cover their future hydrogen needs themselves. In Germany it is different; The study warns that the republic is correspondingly “vulnerable”. Since demand is increasing worldwide but supply is still low, the energy source will remain "rather expensive and scarce in the short and medium term."
The import strategy should therefore focus on industries that could only achieve their climate protection goals with hydrogen, such as the steel industry or international shipping and air traffic. If the strategy includes the heating of buildings or road traffic to a greater extent, this could "unnecessarily drive up prices for the other sectors," warn the authors. The study was funded by the Federal Ministry of Research.
Within the EU, scientists complain about a significant discrepancy. So far, countries like Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands have been investing particularly diligently in hydrogen - although the potential for renewable energies is greater in countries like Spain and France. The authors warn that the EU is not making full use of its possibilities to meet the ambitious goals for green hydrogen.
Experts assume that the growing global market for hydrogen could change the industrial structure in Germany. For example, countries such as the USA and Canada, which have great potential for hydrogen production in the country, could produce more and more hydrogen-based raw materials such as ammonia or sponge iron - important raw materials for the chemical and steel industries. “This endangers the position of the German economy,” warn the scientists. However, there could also be an opportunity to “accept a certain amount of migration” and to rearrange value chains.
Overall, Germany should “already approach potential export countries that will gain significant market power in the medium term,” says study author Martin Wietschel. Anyone who drags out negotiations is “playing with fire,” the paper says; First-time providers could then quickly look for other buyers.
note