Chemistry Forum.NRW in Marl – h2-netzwerk-ruhr e. V.

Moderated by Tom Hegermann, the NRW Chemistry Forum on December 2, 2024 at the Marl Chemical Park brought together NRW Minister of Economic Affairs Mona Neubaur, Thomas Basten, Site Manager of the Marl Chemical Park, and Andreas Steidle, Head of Energy Management at Evonik, to discuss the future of the chemical industry and the role of hydrogen in the energy transition.

In her opening remarks, Minister Neubaur emphasized the significant role of the chemical industry and its importance in the transformation toward a climate-neutral economy.

Thomas Basten’s presentation “Hydrogen: If Not Here, Where Then?” made it clear that the Ruhr region has excellent opportunities for scaling up the hydrogen economy. However, he emphasized that framework conditions must be improved and hydrogen must be available at reasonable prices. Using ThyssenKrupp as an example, he demonstrated that a capex subsidy of two billion euros is insufficient when economic viability on the opex side remains far out of reach.

Prof. Dr. Angelika Loidl-Stahlhofen from Westphalian University presented her field of Molecular Biology and highlighted the growing importance of protein chemistry in biomedicine and biopharmaceuticals. Her presentation underscored the outstanding research competencies of the Emscher-Lippe chemical region.

*Participants in the panel discussion (from left): Mona Neubaur, Andreas Steidle, and Thomas Basten. Tom Hegermann moderated.*

With his contribution “Energy Transformation for Chemistry Between Aspiration and Reality,” Andreas Steidle provided insight into the development of energy prices and procurement markets. It became clear that increasing burdens from grid expansion are to be expected and that the competitiveness of domestic industry is severely threatened by high prices.

The h2-netzwerk-ruhr e.V. was also represented at the event and took the opportunity to distribute some of the anniversary brochures, which generated considerable interest. The brochures are also available online for download at https://www.unserebroschuere.de/h2-netzwerk-ruhr/MailView/.

The 90 participants from the chemical industry, politics, and administration had the opportunity to ask questions of the speakers and to network in an informal setting after the official program.