Germany eager to become global leader in developing hydrogen technologies

(EurActiv, 24 Jul 2019) Germany intends to invest €100 million annually into the research of hydrogen technologies. This could be the business of the future, as well as the country’s next top export. However, the future of green gas is still extremely shaky. EURACTIV Germany reports.

A world powered by hydrogen sounds beautiful. This would mean no carbon emissions, no coal and no oil – and our planet is full of it.

“We are now starting the next stage of the energy transition,” said Federal Economics Minister Peter Altmaier (CDU) in Berlin last Thursday (18 July).

In so-called “real laboratories” he is eager to investigate how hydrogen can be used on a large scale as an energy carrier in the heat market, the transport sector and industry.

The project will cost the ministry €100 million each year, and results should already be seen by 2020.

Germany wants to be a global leader in the development of hydrogen technologies, according to Altmaier. “It is now a matter of increasing the potential of industrial policy,” Altmaier said.

In the future, when the EU member states decarbonise at an increased rate, hydrogen technologies will become Germany’s next top export- it could be a billion-dollar business.

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EurActiv, 24 Jul 2019: Germany eager to become global leader in developing hydrogen technologies