Electricity from Waste to Become Attractive for H2 Production

Hydrogen Regions Apply Pressure

In a letter to the three responsible federal ministers Peter Altmeier (Economy), Andreas Scheuer (Transport) and Svenja Schulze (Environment), h2-netzwerk-ruhr e.V. and HyCologne-Wasserstoffregion Rheinland e.V. are advocating for changes to the planned Greenhouse Gas Reduction Act.

In the version approved by the cabinet, only electricity-based liquid fuels from non-biogenic sources are to be credited toward the fuel quota. This would make the production of hydrogen from the biogenic portion of waste-to-energy economically unviable.

The chairmen of the two major networks, Volker Lindner and Dr. Albrecht Möllmann, warn that this would permanently hinder the rapid expansion of electrolysis capacity and the use of low-emission fuel cell vehicles, e.g., in waste collection and street cleaning. The letter states: “The federal government is thereby torpedoing its own energy policy objectives, the goals of the hydrogen strategy, and its own funding programs.”

The clear demand of the network chairmen is to allow hydrogen of biogenic origin to be credited toward the fuel quota for greenhouse gas reduction. The complete letter can be found in the download section and here.

Title photo: flickr / Dennis Skley, “News”, License here