Lower Saxony is already the number one energy state, "but Lower Saxony also has the very best chances of becoming the number one hydrogen state", Lower Saxony's Energy and Environment Minister Olaf Lies is certain. Just one clear message with which he launched the new "Lower Saxony Hydrogen Network" on 3 November 2020. However, almost 90 participants from industry, science and associations also agreed at the first meeting in Hanover: decisions must now be made and the most important course set. "We have no more time," said Lies. "But if everyone wants climate protection and green hydrogen, there is no way around the consistent expansion of renewable energies."

Why Lower Saxony has the potential to become hydrogen state number one? "We already generate lots of renewable energy on land. And we generate large amounts of renewable energy via the offshore sector, which can ultimately be used to produce green hydrogen," says Lies. But: "We will not be able to completely cover the nationwide demand ourselves, so we have to import. And Lower Saxony, with its coastal and port infrastructure, is ideally suited for this. We must not let this opportunity of the century pass us by." The state government's declared goal is to make Lower Saxony the hub and main producer of green hydrogen in Germany and to establish further industrial production and refinement steps in order to secure and expand jobs and value creation in the state.

Around 100 million euros are available for this from the budgets within the framework of the Corona crisis and for the year 2021. And the roughly nine billion euros that the federal government wants to put into the expansion of hydrogen technology "is also an incredible boost", says Lies. "And it has to be: We can't take a step back after the crisis and just carry on as we did ten years ago! Otherwise we won't get out of the climate crisis. Fortunately, Berlin has finally realised this about hydrogen, and I'm very glad about that. Because climate protection must take precedence over everything else. And that's why we need intelligent, innovative and forward-looking hydrogen projects - above and beyond the federal government's hydrogen strategy," said the Environment and Energy Minister. "Because it's not just about the big steel or chemical industries, we also have many small and medium-sized businesses and the mobility sector that we need to support in switching to hydrogen technology."

The newly founded "Hydrogen Network" will support the state's march by bundling and strengthening the already existing competences. It will meet regularly in the future to jointly advance the hydrogen economy and technology. Together with the network, Lies then also wants to influence the course set at the federal level. "Through the Bundesrat, but also in my new function as chairman of the advisory board of the Federal Network Agency, we will now quickly set the course. The EEG levy for hydroelectricity must fall, regulation for hydrogen networks must be created and sensible quotas to ensure a market must be introduced," says Lies.