Senate approves EUR 223 million for key IPCEI hydrogen projects

26 August 2022

Decarbonisation of industry and energy sector gaining pace

The senate has approved EUR 223 million in funds for eight hydrogen projects in the EU’s "Important Project of Common European Interest" (IPCEI) scheme, a press release said Tuesday (August 23, 2022). The goal is to decarbonise industry, the energy sector and transport in Hamburg quickly to which green hydrogen is central. The German government will provide 70 per cent of the funds for 62 major industrial projects in Germany while the respective state will pay 30 per cent.

Ideal for hydrogen infrastructure

Hamburg has ideal conditions for developing a "hydrogen starter network", according to the Ministry of Economics. The good, local industry network, the infrastructure for producing and importing hydrogen as well as the trans-European onward transport allow for the best possible use of the funding. The Hamburg Hydrogen Industry Network (HH-WIN) is one of two key projects. Gasnetz Hamburg is set to expand HH-WIN from 2023 after the German Ministry of Economics approved in August the "earlier start of measures". That will allow the Hamburg Green Hydrogen Hub electrolyser, which is under construction in Moorburg, to supply large-scale industrial consumers from 2026 and to be commissioned in that year, a feasibility study has found. Basic hydrogen infrastructure could then be set up in the Port of Hamburg.

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"As a major industrial and port location, Hamburg is facing a truly mammoth task. Companies are important employers in our city and catalysts of economic strength and innovation. They must be transformed to combat the advancing climate change with sustainable reductions in CO2 emissions to position themselves for the future," said Michael Westhagemann, Senator for Economics. After welcoming the German government's plans "to fund Hamburg's IPCEI projects with more than half a billion euros", he added: "The simultaneous funding from Hamburg lays another important cornerstone for becoming a hydrogen-based economy in future."

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"Hydrogen is an important means of becoming independent of fossil fuels as quickly as possible, to achieve our climate goals and to prepare make our city and country for the future. Hydrogen is the most important energy carrier for saving CO2, especially in industry and for parts of the transport sector," said Jens Kerstan, Senator for the Environment. The goal is to complete the IPCEI projects and to cut CO2 emissions and thus save around 600,000 tonnes by 2028. Hamburg should become a national and European centre of hydrogen, he added. An integrated approach is being pursued along the entire hydrogen value chain towards that goal.

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