Workshop THINK BIG

On January 20, 2016, well over 100 professionals from the energy industry, politics and academia exchanged their ideas and views on the topic of “THINK BIG: Hydrogen for the energy industry” at the TecTower Duisburg. In addition, Johannes Remmel, Minister for Climate Protection, Environment, Agriculture, Nature and Consumer Protection of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia (MKULNV), officially announced the launch of the HydrogenHyWay.NRW funding programme.

“The use of hydrogen in NRW has played an important role in industrial processes for decades. We are therefore also very well positioned to use electrolytically produced hydrogen as a storage medium for electricity from renewable energies. With the HydrogenHyWay.NRW competition, the state government is now supporting North Rhine-Westphalia’s economy in cooperation with academia in further developing climate- and environmentally friendly innovations and solutions and in opening up and expanding market advantages,” argued Climate Protection Minister Remmel.

The organisers of the first Rhine-Ruhr hydrogen workshop, the associations h2-netzwerk-ruhr and HyCologne – Hydrogen Region Rhineland, have been campaigning as lobbyists for the energy carrier hydrogen for many years. With this event, they placed large-scale hydrogen storage facilities and pipelines, their technical requirements and permitting issues at the centre of the professional exchange. “The conference not only sharpened the perspective, but also made clear which possibilities and processes already exist or will come into effect in the foreseeable future to produce hydrogen in an environmentally friendly way and use it for various applications. In this context, the storage of hydrogen in large-scale storage facilities of various types as well as transport in pipelines and gas networks are an essential prerequisite.
We assume that on this day it was possible to convey an understanding of the technical and permitting challenges,” explained Dr Albrecht Möllmann, Chairman of HyCologne – Hydrogen Region Rhineland. “The first will probably be followed by a second
Rhine-Ruhr hydrogen workshop. We are convinced that green hydrogen will help drive the energy transition,” emphasised Volker Lindner, Chairman of h2-netzwerk-ruhr.