The last meeting of Markus Söder and Winfried Kretschmann on the so-called southern rail was three years ago.

Now the Green Prime Minister Winfried Kretschmann and Markus Söder from the CSU are in the "HyFab" in Ulm.

This is an industrial hall of the "Center for Hydrogen Research".

They want to remind people of the willingness of both federal states to cooperate and do something for the energy security of the economically strong south.

If Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) and Federal Minister of Economics Robert Habeck (Greens) fly to Canada to sign an agreement on hydrogen supply, then it is the least that Söder and Kretschmann meet in Ulm in Baden-Württemberg and Neu-Ulm in Bavaria.

Both heads of government do not want to be accused later of

Ruediger Soldt

Political correspondent in Baden-Württemberg.

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The Greens and the Union politician can be shown machines for the production of "stacks", the electricity generators in the fuel cells, in the hall and visit a mobile hydrogen filling station.

The demand for hydrogen could increase fifteenfold by 2040.

Markus Hölzle, board member of the Baden-Württemberg Center for Solar Energy and Hydrogen Research (ZSW), analyzes the state of research for the delegation from Stuttgart and Munich: “We master this technology.

It's now about large-scale production.

Production has to be faster, more automated and the quantities larger.

Then the costs go down.” The biggest problem is the sufficient and timely availability of green hydrogen: Kretschmann, Söder and Hölzle are convinced that the right course must be set now,

Both countries want to coordinate their hydrogen strategies even better in the future.

However, the heads of government fear that in ten years too little green hydrogen could arrive in the south because the most important pipelines lead from the north to the south - and so the industry in North Rhine-Westphalia or Lower Saxony could be better supplied than chemical plants in Munich, Grenzach -Wyhlen and Mannheim or refineries in Karlsruhe and Upper Bavaria.

"Our goal is to become the leading supplier of hydrogen technology," said Kretschmann.

“But we may only be able to cover ten percent of the demand.

The South must not be disadvantaged compared to the North.

We have to enter into international partnerships.”

2030 is too late for Söder

If the south is not connected to a hydrogen pipeline until 2030, it will be too late.

Söder called the concepts for the expansion of hydrogen pipelines "dead end plans".

A third of Germany's gross domestic product is generated in the south.

“Both countries are hungry for energy, both countries want to expand renewable energies.

Then you can't avoid hydrogen.

Our impression is that the development is only being made from the north," said Söder.

Lines to the south and a platform for planning are needed.

The Federal Network Agency is responsible for the construction of the power lines.

If Germany is to be connected to a hydrogen network by 2030, then the federal government must create “clear legal regulations” and finally create an agency to coordinate the pipeline expansion.

Two axes are under discussion for the expansion of the pipeline for hydrogen transport to the south.

The construction of a hydrogen pipeline along the Autobahn 8 would make sense. This could supply industrial clusters on the axis Karlsruhe, Stuttgart, Ulm, Munich.

Markus Hölzle from ZSW also thinks it is urgently necessary to build a hydrogen pipeline through southern Europe to the Maghreb states: "In a few years the world will be drowning in green energy.

Such a pipeline costs ten billion euros,” said Hölzle.

These are comparatively small investments, after all, the federal government spends 30 billion euros a year on the production of green electricity with the EEG surcharge.

Kretschmann considers such a pipeline to be “fundamentally necessary”;

Söder advises looking for “industrial partners” first.

"If need be, we have to do it ourselves.

We simply don't want to miss anything when expanding hydrogen technology."

There is currently no permanent southern line between Bavaria and Baden-Württemberg.

The party political interests are too different for that.

Söder and Kretschmann cooperate when it makes sense thematically.

Both are dissatisfied with the traffic light government: Kretschmann said he has not regretted a single day that he decided against a traffic light coalition.

Söder said the gas levy was "simply a mess".

And in the Corona crisis, the federal government at least always informed the federal states in advance.