Federal Chancellor opens gigahub
The Federal Chancellor has opened a plant for the modern production of environmentally friendly hydrogen. Forward-looking large-scale projects such as the new gigahub were possible in Germany and would pay off, Scholz said at the Quest One company in Hamburg.
The Federal Government is promoting green hydrogen, funding research and generating new impulses.
Photo: Federal Government/Marvin Ibo Güngör
Hydrogen plays a decisive role in reducing carbon emissions in industry and many other areas because some sectors such as the shipping industry and chemical production cannot be effectively electrified. Producing hydrogen requires electrolysers, which will now be produced on a large scale at the Quest One company in Rahlstedt.
After Berlin, this five-gigawatt plant is the second gigafactory for electrolysers with the “made in Germany” label – a true milestone in the hydrogen market ramp-up.
The key facts:
- By 2030, Germany is expected to produce 80 percent of its electricity from renewable sources. Three years ago, the figure was 40 percent, showing that it is possible to produce low-cost electricity in this country. This is why hydrogen plays a decisive role for Germany as an industrial nation.
- The Federal Government has doubled the electrolysis target. By 2030, electrolysis is to be expanded to 10 gigawatts in Germany. To achieve this, the construction of large electrolysers is being funded and the necessary infrastructure is being set up. In the first step, a hydrogen core network is to go into operation by 2032. This network is embedded in the EU internal market and unites all the important centres which generate or consume hydrogen.
- Industry-oriented research plays a significant part in making it possible to produce hydrogen on a large scale. This is why the Federal Government is funding industrial and research projects. Over three percent of GDP goes into research and development – more than in any of the other large national economies of Europe.
Producing hydrogen by electrolysis: Electrolysis uses “stacks” to break down water into hydrogen. These stacks will now go into series production to generate hydrogen in Rahlstedt. This means that, in future, many steps which until now had to be performed by hand will be automated on an industrial scale. The aim is to produce a capacity of five gigawatts per year while reducing the production time by around three quarters.
A transcript of the speech will be available here (in German only)