Green hydrogen: Together into the future
Climate change is having an increasingly dramatic impact. For example, the summer of 2022 was the hottest Europe has ever experienced – with temperatures reaching 47 degrees, leading to extreme drought, health problems and increased forest fires. From another perspective, the war in Ukraine has highlighted the need to significantly reduce our dependence on fossil fuels. In view of these various challenges, countries around the world are stepping up the expansion of renewable energies for electricity and heat production as well as the transition to electric mobility.
As part of the energy transition, politics and industry are also relying on green hydrogen to reconcile climate protection with independence from fossil fuels. The problem is that it is still too expensive for widespread use and not available in sufficient quantities. But this is exactly what more and more countries around the world are working on and jointly seeking solutions to produce and transport hydrogen effectively and in an environmentally friendly way, while at the same time reducing costs. In Germany, the BMBF and the ministries of the individual federal states are among those involved in this field. Policy-makers are supported by DLR Projektträger, which implements a range of important activities on behalf of its clients – from strategic advice and expert conferences to project funding.
DLR Projektträger has made a significant contribution to the success of the agenda process. We have steered and implemented the entire process across Europe – with new formats such as online consultations and hybrid strategy dialogues.
Towards a European green hydrogen economy – developing a common agenda
One highlight in this context was the international conference "Green Hydrogen for a Sustainable European Future", which took place in Berlin in mid-May 2022 as a hybrid event upon invitation of the BMBF. It marked the preliminary culmination of a one-and-a-half-year process in which the EU Member States developed a research and innovation agenda ("Strategic Research and Innovation Agenda") for a common green hydrogen economy ("Green Hydrogen Agenda Process"). The challenge is now to implement this agenda within the European Research Area. More than 20 high-ranking experts from politics, business, science and society – including Federal Research Minister Bettina Stark-Watzinger – discussed the next necessary steps with more than 300 participants. Concrete topics included European cooperation in production, transport infrastructure and market development, energy partnerships with non-European countries and the establishment of global supply chains, as well as the qualification of skilled workers. As part of the conference, the DLR Projektträger, on behalf of the BMBF, was able to establish a network of international players who are now driving forward joint research and innovation projects.
DLR Projektträger made a significant contribution to the success of the agenda process and the final conference. We managed and implemented the entire process across Europe – with new formats such as online consultations and hybrid strategy dialogues as well as by providing content expertise in agenda development.
At the conference, DLR Projektträger was responsible for the overall organisation – from the strategic positioning of the BMBF to expert briefings and the event programme, including speaker recruitment and invitation management.
Energy partnership with Canada: Driving innovation
One example of international cooperation on green hydrogen is the German-Canadian partnership. The two countries have been working closely together in science and research for 50 years, share the same values and are also moving forward together in the fight against climate change and the decarbonisation of the energy sector. The aim is to turn scientific findings into commercially viable products and to lead the way in green hydrogen with innovative technologies. Specifically, the two countries have agreed to jointly fund four projects in which research institutions and industry will work together, for example, to develop innovative methods for hydrogen production and, thus, reduce production costs. On behalf of the BMBF, DLR Projektträger, together with the Canadian National Research Council, designed the bilateral call for proposals, advised the applicants, managed the evaluation process of the applications received, coordinated the selection meeting and implemented the funding.
On behalf of the BMBF, DLR Projektträger also works with other countries in the field of energy: Together with Australia, Japan, New Zealand and South Korea, the BMBF is funding the establishment of research locations in the field of green hydrogen technologies.
Hydrogen partnerships with priority countries: A sustainable cooperation
Cooperation with low and middle-income countries plays an important role in the development of a hydrogen economy. The focus is on sun-rich countries that would be particularly well suited for the production of green hydrogen – for example in Africa or Asia. Economically, both sides could benefit from such projects. But the Office of Technology Assessment at the German Bundestag (TAB) wants to play it safe. It has commissioned a consortium, including DLR Projektträger, to examine the opportunities and risks for five countries with which cooperation is planned: Algeria, Tunisia, Nigeria, Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan. Specifically, the study will look at the positive and negative technical, economic and social impacts of local production of green hydrogen. The aim is to ensure that the cooperation programmes lead to sustainable development in the partner countries. To this end, in the first quarter of 2023, DLR Projektträger designed and conducted three stakeholder dialogues with representatives from politics, research, industry and civil society in the countries and regions. We are currently evaluating the information and assessments gained from these dialogues and using them to formulate recommendations for action for TAB in the consortium.
Regional presence for networking across Europe and internationally
DLR Projektträger has implemented further measures related to European or international cooperation: On behalf of the Saxon State Ministry of Economics, Labour and Transport, we developed an internationally oriented congress series, which had its premiere on 2 November 2022 with the "Green Hydrogen Innovation Congress 2022". One of the aims of the event was to strengthen cooperation with other European regions, such as Flanders (Belgium), North Brabant (Netherlands) or the Czech Republic. Saxon innovations for the production, transport and use of green hydrogen in industry and transport were also to be made better known beyond the region. The hybrid congress was the first in a series of events to increase the internationalisation of Saxon hydrogen players and innovations, and is to be repeated every two years.
Also in November, a port workshop was held in Hamburg, organised by DLR Projektträger together with Projektträger Jülich on behalf of the BMBF. The background was the question of how green hydrogen should be transported in the first place. It is clear that, in addition to pipelines, ports will play a crucial role. At the same time, freight transport is also an important consumer and user of hydrogen. The Hamburg workshop brought together port stakeholders from Germany, Ireland, Scotland and the Netherlands: employees and researchers from ports and port-related companies as well as from politics. Their task was to identify challenges related to the transport and use of green hydrogen, to derive the resulting research needs and to develop solutions in international consortia from industry and academia.
Contact
Agenda process and final conference:
Horst.Kraemer@dlr.de
Canada:
Stephanie.Splett@dlr.de
Saxony:
Nadine.May@dlr.de
Hamburg:
Angi.Solymosi@dlr.de