During his visit, Robert Habeck inspects a cavern storage facility for hydrogen in Bad Lauchstädt in summer 2022.
Image: dpa
The Economics Minister wants to allocate the hydrogen to specific sectors. Transport Minister Wissing is concerned that traffic will be neglected. The industry is behind the FDP politician and reacts with sarcasm to Habeck’s proposal.
Hydrogen is a scarce commodity and is in great demand as an energy source. How it should be used most sensibly in the future needs careful consideration. The federal government is therefore currently working on the continuation of its hydrogen strategy, which it has actually wanted to present for a long time. It is of central importance for the industry, which is currently investing in research, development and increasingly also in production and hopes to be able to use hydrogen, which is produced with as few emissions as possible using renewable energies, at some point in the future.
Gustave parts
Business correspondent in Stuttgart.
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But there is a crunch again between the ministries involved in the strategy. There are differences of opinion, especially between the leading Federal Ministry of Economics and the Federal Ministry of Transport, as to who should benefit from the hydrogen supply that the federal government is currently collecting so laboriously from all over the world. Robert Habeck’s (Greens) Federal Ministry of Economics is concerned about a persistent hydrogen shortage and would like to reserve it for selected sectors. For the steel industry, for example, which hardly has any climate-friendly alternative to hydrogen. The energy source would also be necessary as a reserve for decommissioned gas-fired power plants. The ministry does not want to comment publicly and points out that the strategy is still being drafted.