In Germany, where low carbon hydrogen – produced from electricity of renewable origin – had been envisaged as a wide solution to the decarbonation of the economy, doubts have settled on the pace and extent of the transition. The government's strategy, adopted in 2023, undergoes significant delays.
“Currently, it is the snake that bites its tail. We would need a big demand to make installation projects profitable and save scale. But companies hesitate to conclude long -term contracts, because they await the drop in prices, which does not come because the projects are not done, because not profitable “, Summarizes Urban Rid, who advises Green Enesys and Viridi Re, German co -developers of renewable energy projects in the field of low carbon hydrogen and derivative products.
Negotiations with potential customers are underway, he said. Pending the long-term commitments, the two co-developers had to break an installation project with five electrolyzes in southern Spain, which could produce hydrogen from electricity from the wind and solar, then transformed into green methanol, easier to transport than the gas itself. Many projects of this type are stopped, while Germany imperatively needs it for its energy transition: in heavy industries such as chemistry or steel industry, where certain operations are impossible to electrify, hydrogen is considered essential.
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Source: Lemonde