Der Ausbau der Wasserstoffinfrastruktur in Deutschland und Europa ist ein zentraler Bestandteil der Dekarbonisierungs- und Energiewendestrategie. Im Rahmen dieser Bemühungen spielen verschiedene Initiativen und Förderrahmen eine wichtige Rolle, insbesondere der Kernnetz-Ansatz und das IPCEI (Important Projects of Common European Interest).
Auf einen Blick
- Will all of Germany’s initial infrastructure projects be able to meet their planned commissioning deadlines starting in 2027?
- By the end of the 2020s, will there be enough consumers to utilize the defined amount of low-carbon and green hydrogen produced by electrolysers and transported through pipelines?
- Will the hydrogen infrastructure be able to integrate seamlessly across the borders of EU member states?
Core Network and IPCEI
The Core Network is a strategic project of the German federal government aimed at establishing a nationwide hydrogen infrastructure in Germany. It consists of a pipeline network connecting central production sites and storage facilities with industrial consumers. The goal is to ensure a reliable and efficient hydrogen supply, which is of crucial importance for both industry and the transportation sector. This network is also intended to serve as the foundation for cross-border hydrogen trade within Europe to ensure a long-term supply of green hydrogen.
Crucial to the implementation of the core network is the European Union’s IPCEI initiative, which aims to support significant cross-border, technically innovative development and infrastructure projects of strategic importance to the entire EU. With regard to hydrogen, the IPCEI is an important instrument for accelerating the development of hydrogen technologies and infrastructure along the entire value chain and mitigating the disadvantages faced by “first movers.” The hydrogen pipeline, storage, and production projects were notified by the European Commission in February 2024. Following this important step, all member states were authorized to disburse funding to the respective projects.
H2 Hydrogen Infrastructure in Hamburg
The Hamburg metropolitan region is the location for two IPCEI Hy2Infra projects: the 100-MW electrolyzer (scalable up to 800 MW) in Moorburg and the 30-km-long (expandable by at least 30%) HH-WIN hydrogen pipeline. Local production and distribution to the first customers in the Hamburg port region—including for applications in logistics, aviation, and metal production—will ensure the establishment of Hamburg’s hydrogen economy starting in 2027.
From 2021 to 2024, hysolutions has taken on the initiation and partial coordination of the Hamburg Hydrogen Network (WVH) for the development of the Hamburg H2 ecosystem within the Hydrogen IPCEI.
