Hydrogen industry guide links companies, projects and science

Hydrogen is a central building block for the energy transition. In order for the hydrogen economy to ramp up quickly, it is necessary to network the players along the entire value chain. The Lower Saxony Hydrogen Network (NWN) is therefore launching an industry guide in the matchmaking platform innomatch, operated by startup.niedersachsen at the Innovation Center Lower Saxony (IZ) and adapted to the needs of the hydrogen economy, together with the network partner Unternehmerverbände Niedersachsen (UVN).  

Hereby, the NWN creates an overview of companies as well as scientific institutions that are active in the hydrogen sector and mediates offers and requests in a precisely fitting manner. The AI-based matchmaking algorithm proactively supports the digital H2 marketplace in the search for potential customers, partners, service providers, component manufacturers and system suppliers.

Any organization that registers for free at innomatch and joins the hydrogen section can participate. How to become part of the hydrogen area is explained in a few steps in the instructions.

Information session: 

Those interested can attend a digital introduction to the tool on April 24 from 13:00-14:30. Click here to register. 

EU Commission defines renewable hydrogen

Hydrogen is a central component of the energy transformation. For this, it is important that renewable (green) hydrogen is used in the future. The EU Commission has recently published a delegated act that defines theconditions under which electricity may be used for hydrogen production and when the resulting hydrogen is recognizedas "renewable". The delegated act focuses on hydrogen of non-biogenic origin. This means that primarily hydrogen from electrolysis is meant and not from methane pyrolysis.

Renewable hydrogen 

Source: NWN/Daniel George

Larissa El Lahib, business lawyer and project manager on the part of the Lower Saxony Business Associations (UVN) in the NWN, explains the draft:

There are different possibilities when electricity for the production of hydrogen in an electrolyser can be considered renewable. which can be found in Article 3 and Article 4. For example, in the case of electricity from the grid, it is counted as renewable for hydrogen production if the following conditions are met at the electrolyzer:

• is located in a power bid zone with a RE share of more than 90 percent,
• or it is located in an electricity bidding zone with an emission intensity of electricity generation of less than 18 g CO2e per MJ / 65 g CO2e per kWh
• or if the criteria of additionality and the conditions of temporal and spatial correlation are present.

At this means:

• "Additionality": e.g., a Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) has been entered into for electricity from a RE facility and the electricity is from a RE facility that was commissioned no earlier than 36 months prior to the electrolyzer. In addition, there must be no public subsidy.

There would be a transition period for projects placed in service before January 1, 2028.

• "temporal correlation": e.g. the RES-E was produced in the same hour as the hydrogen. However, this is not to apply until 2030. Until the end of 2029, the RES-E may be produced in the same month as the hydrogen. In addition, Article 6 must be observed here.
• "Geographical correlation": e.g., RES-E and hydrogen were basically generated in the same electricity bidding zone (Article 7).

Where do we go from here? The EU Parliament and Council now have two months to consider the two pieces of legislation. They can either be adopted or rejected, but not amended.

Assessments from the industry

Source: NWN/Daniel GeorgeDr. Alexander Bedrunka, Technical Officer at KEAN and Project Manager NWN On the meaning of the Delegated Act and the definition: 

We have waited two years for this decision and have thus been on the brakes for two years in terms of transformation. We therefore welcome the fact that the Delegated Act is finally available and thus ensures planning security for companies.

The industry was concerned in advance that the regulations would be too detailed - the EU is meeting this concern with a gradual introduction, in particular the temporal correlation. Nevertheless, there is criticism: From 2028, the regulations would unnecessarily restrict production for electrolysers and increase the costs of domestic hydrogen production.  

Environmental associations are pleased with the decision to link hydrogen production to the expansion of renewable electricity in order to counteract a slowdown in expansion. At the same time, however, they criticize the fact that hydrogen from nuclear power is recognized as renewable in France and Sweden. In principle, the EU rules should also be read here as meaning that the expansion of renewables must be accelerated. 

Even though the current focus is often on America and the Inflation Reduction Act, Europe is considered a pioneer worldwide with this bill. No other country has such a comprehensive set of regulations defining renewable hydrogen. 

Hydrogen from Jordan despite water shortage?

The goal of the Lower Saxony state government is to make Lower Saxony a gateway and hub for renewable energies. With its deep-sea ports, the state has ideal conditions for importing green hydrogen. The EU has already signed agreements with Namibia and Egypt for such energy partnerships. Jordan is also considering getting into the export of hydrogen.

Jordan has an average of about 300 sunny days per year - and can potentially generate high amounts of renewable PV electricity. This means that the country in principle offers good conditions for the development of a hydrogen economy and the export of green hydrogen. On the other hand, however, the amount of water in the country is limited, so conflicts of use could arise.

Within the framework of the Wuppertal Institute and supported by the foreign office of the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung in Jordan, possibilities for the development of a hydrogen economy in Jordan were discussed - taking into account the critical situation in the water sector. NWN project manager Dr. Alexander Bedrunka was represented in the dialogue and reports on the situation in Jordan.

At the end of September, the first part of the dialog started with the visit of a Jordanian delegation to Wuppertal. Here, in addition to various presentations around the topics of water and hydrogen, practical examples such as the waste incineration plant in Wuppertal were shown. Dr. Alexander Bedrunka was invited to present the hydrogen economy in Lower Saxony as well as lighthouse projects that could be of interest to Jordan. "In recent years, a large number of hydrogen projects along the entire value chain have emerged in Lower Saxony. For representatives from a country like Jordan, which is still at the very beginning of hydrogen, it was therefore interesting to see how diverse the projects are in our country," said Bedrunka.

The second part of the dialogue took place at the end of October with a German delegation in Jordan, where Dr. Alexander Bedrunka was also represented. The aim of the workshop was to identify potential hydrogen applications for Jordan from the point of view of the existing water shortage.

Building a hydrogen economy in Jordan - what are the options for action?

Jordan's second largest CO2 emitter after industry is the mobility sector with 45%. To reduce CO2 emissions, Jordan is investing heavily in electric mobility. Currently, 40,000 battery electric vehicles are registered and 1,000 e-vehicles are added every month. The use of hydrogen, especially for special-purpose and commercial vehicles, could accelerate CO2 reduction, but this would require an H2 refueling infrastructure to be built in parallel with charging stations, similar to the one in Germany.

In addition, it initially makes sense to use the renewable electricity from PV systems for self-consumption, since currently 84% of the energy demand in Jordan is still covered by energy imports. In order to reduce the import share, a massive expansion of renewable energies is therefore taking place. The 2030 targets of meeting 14% of primary energy demand and 31% of electricity demand via renewable energy were (expected to be) already achieved in 2021. "Due to the high PV potential, the question in Jordan is whether hydrogen has a future as an export product," Bedrunka explained.

Water shortage limits potential hydrogen production

It is imperative to take a look at the water sector in Jordan. Basically, there is less water available in Jordan than is needed. The demand is continuously increasing due to the influx of refugees from neighboring countries. At the same time, the country's water supply is declining. Much water is needed for domestic agriculture. "So the production of hydrogen is also always in conflict with other water uses. This does not mean that hydrogen cannot be produced in Jordan in principle, because exporting hydrogen offers some potential for the country from an economic point of view. On the other hand, this export, which would indirectly involve the export of water, is proving difficult," Bedrunka said. Based on the various impulses during the workshop, which came from the different sectors, working groups identified both positive effects and negative consequences from the use of hydrogen in Jordan. Based on this, the participants developed proposals for solutions as to what the next steps for the topic of hydrogen in Jordan could look like.

"Since there are no major drivers for building a hydrogen economy, decentralized pilot projects should be initiated first," Bedrunka said of the outcome of the delegation trip. "One focus can be on holistic projects that do not focus exclusively on hydrogen in electrolysis, but take into account sector coupling, i.e., using the remaining byproducts such as waste heat and oxygen. These projects should also lead to building hydrogen expertise in Jordan and training relevant professionals."

The Lower Saxony Hydrogen Network wants to continue to accompany the situation in Jordan in the future and participate in the initiation of pilot projects. If you are basically interested in participating in possible pilot projects in Jordan, please feel free to contact us at netzwerk[at]wasserstoff-niedersachsen.de. As soon as it goes into a more concrete phase of project development, we will contact you.