Germany announced it will invest €9 billion ($10.2 billion) to boost its hydrogen strategy, aimed at becoming a global supplier of “state-of-the-art” hydrogen technology, Kallanish Energy reports.
The coalition government agreed late on Wednesday a €130 billion ($147.3 billion) coronavirus recovery stimulus package. The program is geared to climate change mitigation and promoting the technologies “that will be important in the future,” alongside social-policy components, it said in a statement.
Under the plan, €7 billion ($7.9 billion) will be earmarked for hydrogen expansion in Germany and another €2 billion ($2.26 billion) for partnerships with other countries – those that are more efficient than Germany.
On a national level, the European country is targeting a hydrogen power production capacity of 5 gigawatts (GW) by 2030, including offshore. By 2040, it could add another 5 GW.
Support for the technology will include tenders for electrolyzer capacity, focusing on switching fossil fuel power generation in large industrial processes. Further details on the strategy will be presented shortly, the government said.
The “ambitious package” will also reduce electricity costs by reducing the renewable energy levy (EEG) from 2021. The government will subsidize from the national budget the expansion in solar and wind power capacity.
The EEG will drop to 6.5 euro cents per kilowatt-hour in 2021 and 6 euro cents in 2022, compared with 6.76 euro cents this year, according to the stimulus paper.
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