"More pragmatism" was the core message of the third meeting of the Lower Saxony Hydrogen Network last Friday. Around 170 participants from politics, business and science discussed current topics and challenges in order to successfully get hydrogen projects off the ground.

We need to use hydrogen wisely and in a targeted manner, said Environment Minister Olaf Lies and emphasized that hydrogen must be reserved primarily for industrial applications that could not otherwise achieve decarbonization. However, in order to be able to meet the future demand for hydrogen in time, we would first have to reduce the import and use of other "colors", i.e. types of CO₂-free hydrogen, in addition to green hydrogen. Only when there is a sufficient quantity of green hydrogen would a successful switch be possible.

Prof. Dr. Claudia Kemfert, on the other hand, emphasized that only green hydrogen from renewable electricity would have a real impact on climate protection. Although this is currently still very scarce and precious, if it were used in a targeted manner, it could play an important role in sustainability, climate protection and environmental protection. She appealed all the more to politicians for improved framework conditions and, in particular, for the significant expansion of renewable energies to be accelerated.

A look into the future of Lower Saxony's energy system was provided by Prof. Dr.-Ing. Rolf Brendel with the "Simulative short study on the use of hydrogen technology in Lower Saxony" (SiKuWa). According to this study, Lower Saxony will already need significantly more electrolysis capacity in 2030 than is envisaged in the national hydrogen strategy in order to meet demand. To achieve this, renewable energies, i.e. wind and photovoltaic systems, would have to be increasingly and consistently expanded and the hurdles to this necessary expansion urgently removed. You can find the slides for the presentation here.

In the subsequent panel discussion, Dr. Sopna Sury, COO Hydrogen at RWE Generation SE, advocated a "pragmatic definition" of green hydrogen. This is less about color theory and more about a certain openness to solutions combined with an aggressive expansion path for renewable energies. However, the use of existing plants that are no longer eligible for subsidies and many other aspects also need to be discussed. The aim is to shape the framework conditions in such a way that the market ramp-up can start quickly and not just think in ideal terms - in other words, pragmatically.

Marten Bunnemann, CEO of Avacon AG, took a similar approach. In his "Green Energy Hub" in Helmstedt, green hydrogen is to be produced industrially on site in order to decarbonize the entire value chain. Accordingly, the regulatory framework conditions must indeed be pragmatic and stable. Germany is facing a huge transformation task that should be promoted and not hindered.

The call for more pragmatism was also reflected in the chat of the event, in which the participants had participated very strongly.

With the SeWAGE H2 hydrogen project, Hanover's urban drainage system is turning from an electricity guzzler into an energy producer. You can watch the video again here .

Watch the whole event again afterwards here.