The German government should ramp up green hydrogen production and accelerate the expansion of wind energy and other renewables to avoid over-reliance on imports, according to German wind energy business network WAB.
WAB said too large a share of imports and too few renewables will make the future energy system more expensive.
The federal government should consistently rely on climate-friendly green hydrogen and only consider a supplementary import strategy in the long term, it said.
But the “Federal Ministry of Economics, by contrast, relies on hydrogen from fossil fuels without good cause and on a large scale of hydrogen imports without planning a domestic market for green hydrogen that relies on wind energy and other renewables,” WAB added.
A ministry proposal to only use 20% of CO2-free hydrogen in 2030, which also includes hydrogen produced conventionally from natural gas and coupled with carbon capture and storage, is problematic, the trade network said.
Firstly, the low proportion of CO2-free hydrogen is a major problem for the climate, and, secondly a future market of green hydrogen will largely bypass Germany, WAB said.
WAB managing director Heike Winkler said: “Without a domestic generation market for ‘green’ hydrogen, the industrial production of components and R&D for this technology will also have a very challenging time in Germany.”
The organisation said it members already offer many solutions for a quick and sustainable ramp-up of green hydrogen, while WAB has also been cooperating with the Bremerhaven-based hydrogen association H2BX since last year.
The hydrogen market ramp-up will need more expansion of wind energy and other renewables, it added.
Winkler said: “We are committed to support an ambitious production of ‘green’ hydrogen in Germany.
“To achieve this ramp-up, the federal government needs to remove the regulatory obstacles to ‘green’ hydrogen production.
“At the same time, the federal and state governments need to make sure that there are sufficient areas available for onshore wind expansion, that planning and approval procedures are fast, and that their expansion targets for offshore wind energy are significantly increased.”
WAB chairwoman Irina Lucke said: “WAB asks for a long-term, reliable expansion path of at least 35GW of installed offshore wind power by 2035 and at least 50GW by 2050.”
Winkler added that an ambitious and reliable expansion path for offshore wind ensures a stable home market that companies in Germany need in order to utilise existing production capacities, to tap export potential and to create more jobs in the long term.
She said: “It’s all about planning security. Electricity generation from renewables now needs to be accelerated and the first ‘green’ hydrogen projects need to be facilitated.”
Onshore wind energy also needs to play an important role, WAB added.
For the expansion of onshore wind, federal and state governments could increase acceptance by creating opportunities for participation and by making planning procedures more transparent, it said.