German industry projects to boost hydrogen sector

Germany's nascent hydrogen sector got some momentum today through the announcement of two new projects.

Trading firm Mabanaft and speciality products producer H&R have established a joint venture, P2X Europe, to purchase and market synthetic fuels produced in a power-to-liquid (PtL) process. H&R will build a pilot PtL plant in Hamburg that will transform renewable hydrogen, already produced on site, and carbon dioxide into so-called e-fuels and synthetic raw waxes.

E-fuels can be used in conventional combustion engines and can be distributed through existing infrastructure and filling station systems. Mabanaft aims to be one of the first suppliers of carbon-neutral synthetic fuels in Germany.

Also today, a consortium involving utility RWE, BP, speciality chemicals company Evonik and others said it has submitted an application for double-digit million euro amount from the EU Innovation Fund. It will put any funds towards the investment and operating costs of production and purchase of green hydrogen. The GET H2 Nukleus venture aims to initiate a national expansion of a hydrogen economy in Germany.

The constortium plans for green hydrogen produced in RWE's Lingen plant to be transported in existing natural-gas grid pipelines to be used at BP's 265,000 b/d Gelsenkirchen refinery.

Under the German government's biofuels draft law, which aims to implement the EU's revised Renewable Energy Directive (RED II), the use of green hydrogen in the refining process can counted towards the country's greenhouse gas (GHG) emission reduction quota. But industry associations including oil body MWV and automotive group VDA have said that the proposal does not adequately promote the use of synthetic fuels such as e-fuels in road transport.

Germany's economic stimulus package, brought in as a recovery plan from the Covid-19 pandemic, includes €7bn to bring green hydrogen technology to market and €2bn for fostering international partnerships. Hydrogen development is at an early stage, but Germany is not alone in Europe in trying to develop a sector. The UK government plans to invest up to £500mn as a first step toward a target of 5GW production capacity by 2030. This will be "low-carbon hydrogen" capacity, so may not necessarily be green hydrogen generated from renewable energy.

By Sophie Barthel