Sep 26, 2019 – pv-magazine reports: Greenpeace Energy calls for market stimulus programme for green hydrogen

By Sandra Enkhardt

(Convenience translation; citation:
https://www.pv-magazine.de/2019/09/26/greenpeace-energy-fordert-marktanschubprogramm-fuer-gruenen-wasserstoff/)

Experts agree that the demand for electricity in Germany will increase significantly in the coming years. Greenpeace Energy sees massive investments in green hydrogen as a necessity to cover this additional demand in a climate-friendly way. According to the latest studies, up to 115 gigawatts of electrolysers could be operated economically in Germany around the year 2040.

If Germany wants to achieve its climate targets, it must invest massively in green hydrogen. This is the result of two analyses published on Thursday by Energy Brainpool and the Wuppertal Institute, which commissioned Greenpeace Energy. According to the analysis, in a future fully renewable energy system, the demand for renewable hydrogen and fuels produced from it will be 1089 terawatt hours per year, higher than the demand for green electricity with 959 terawatt hours. Electricity consumption in Germany is currently only 596 terawatt hours.

From Greenpeace Energy’s point of view, it is important that hydrogen is produced entirely from green electricity. This is the only way to make the gas really green and not contribute to the climate crisis. The German government’s climate package therefore sends completely the wrong signals. „Although it finally wants to promote hydrogen, politicians are at the same time criminally neglecting the expansion of wind and solar energy,“ explains Marcel Keiffenheim, Head of Policy and Communication at Greenpeace Energy. However, it is clear that more green hydrogen also means more renewable energies. „The Climate Cabinet urgently needs to make improvements,“ Keiffenheim demands.

The researchers from the Wuppertal Institute took a closer look at the transport sector. The energy demand of an emission-free transport sector is estimated at 355 terawatt hours per year. Green electricity, which is used directly by battery electric mobility, accounted for 107 terawatt hours of this. At 249 terawatt hours, renewable gases and synthetic fuels, especially for air traffic, will account for considerably more than twice as much. „But even if we electrify the transport sector to the maximum, battery-powered propulsion systems will not be an option for air traffic, shipping and relevant parts of truck traffic for many years to come,“ explained Karin Arnold of the Wuppertal Institute.

In addition to the transport sector, renewable gases will also be needed in the future for industry and the heating sector if fossil fuels cannot be directly replaced by green electricity in these areas. Green hydrogen will also become indispensable in terms of security of supply, for example in times of „cold darkness“, i.e. when photovoltaic and wind power plants do not supply much electricity.

Energy Brainpool has also calculated that in view of the demand, up to 115 gigawatts of electrolysers can be operated economically in 2040. „On the one hand this is due to the costs, because the electrolysers abroad – but also at home – use cheap surplus electricity. In addition, renewable gases will achieve a high sales value,“ explains Fabian Huneke of Energy Brainpool.

Greenpeace Energy is calling for a market stimulus programme limited in time and volume for the technological breakthrough of green hydrogen. „However, electrolysers should only be promoted at grid-connected locations and in energy-conserving modes of operation,“ says Keiffenheim. In an energy-conserving operating mode, electrolysers run in hours with a particularly high share of renewables in electricity generation. According to analyses by Energy Brainpool, this is about 3000 operating hours per year. Only during these hours should the plants be exempted from the usual levies and allocations on electricity purchases or subsidised with an amount of this magnitude, as Greenpeace Energy further suggests.

„We need to expand the electrolyzer in order to achieve a successful energy turnaround, while at the same time opening up attractive business areas that will benefit our economy – and we act responsibly in terms of climate policy from the outset by focusing the operation of electrolyzers on periods with the highest share of renewables,“ continued Keiffenheim.

Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator