Looking around at the state of our environment these days, one cannot help but notice the necessity for change. The rate of climate disasters happening around the world is only accelerating and the war in Ukraine is highlighting the necessity to reduce our dependence on fossil fuels. There is no better time than now to embark on a full-scale transition towards clean energy. Policymakers around the globe are increasingly looking to the use of green hydrogen and Power-to-X technologies as a promising game changer.
In our virtual conferences Green Hydrogen Life Cycle & Green Hydrogen to eFuels, we have taken an in-depth look at the potential of Power-to-X technologies for multi-sectoral decarbonization and discussed how Germany and California can fuel the energy transition with green hydrogen. Together with German and American industry experts, we discussed roadmaps, regulations, and potentials for a meaningful transatlantic partnership. Here is what our experts had to say:
#1 Power-to-X, in 2010, was already a future vision: green hydrogen could be produced from water, wind and solar.
More than a decade ago, Prof. Dr-Ing. Michel Sterner, a German scientist, shared a vision of a day when Europe’s natural gas pipeline would be converted to moving not natural gas, but green hydrogen. With this abundant, low-cost green hydrogen, we would decarbonize multiple sectors, including powering airplanes or freight carriers through the production of synthetic fuels.
#2 Green hydrogen will soon be a traded commodity like oil and gas.
If we want green hydrogen to be a globally traded commodity, we need to make sure that we have the right market design and structure. It is important that we work within a common, global framework and share best practices and policies.
#3 Germany is leading the way forward.
Fortescue Future Industries and E.ON partner plan to deliver up to five million tons per annum of green, renewable hydrogen to Europe by 2030. This undertaking speaks to what is possible and how green hydrogen will be a traded commodity like oil and gas. It’s also exemplary in what green hydrogen can deliver in terms of energy security and displacing large volumes of fossil fuels in a very short period of time.
“We will transform our economy for the most part, where gas is necessary, to a hydrogen-based one. And that will be a process, which will happen much faster than some may think, but which will create a great future for all of us.”
Olaf Scholz, German Chancellor, on Feb 8, 2022
#4 Germany and California are kindred spirits.
There’s been a long-time collaboration on energy transitions between Germany and California. Green hydrogen is next in building upon this long history of collaboration. The pathway to our accelerated progress lies in a compelling value proposition: the ability to maximize, recognize, and be compensated for all the benefits that green hydrogen can deliver, notwithstanding cost reduction.
#5 There’s a huge opportunity for deeper collaboration.
While there’s lots of innovation ongoing on the production side, there are also plentiful opportunities for collaboration on the infrastructure side. If there’s one thing that we have learned, it’s that infrastructure is crucial in delivering the outcome at a low cost. Therefore, sharing best practices for how to import and export green hydrogen and remembering that green hydrogen will ultimately be one of the world’s most traded global commodities, is essential to transatlantic business relationships.
Never doubt that a small group of committed thoughtful citizens can change the world. Indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.
Margaret Mead, American anthropologist
Event Recording
If you missed our event and want to learn more about this topic, rewatch our webinars here:
Green Hydrogen Life Cycle: From Production to Transportation to Storage
Green Hydrogen to eFuels: How Germany & CA can Fuel the Energy Transition
Hungry for more?
If you would like to play an active role in the transatlantic clean energy transition or learn from like-minded players in this space, you’re welcome to join our events and programs. From September 19 – 24, 2022, we will bring German innovative companies in the building efficiency sector to Los Angeles & Seattle where they can explore opportunities and discover the various players in the respective ecosystems.
