Germany funds hydrogen

The German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) will approve funding for three key hydrogen projects to facilitate Germany’s transition to a hydrogen economy over a period of four years. Hamburger Hafen und Logistik AG (HHLA) is one of more than 240 partners working on the projects and can now draw on an additional €2.3m to test new transportation technologies for green hydrogen.

HHLA is one of the partners involved in the technologies for the transportation of hydrogen project (TransHyDE). Other projects due to receive funding include the serial manufacture of large-scale water electrolysers (H2Giga) and the offshore production of hydrogen and secondary products (H2Mare).

“An important question in the development of hydrogen technology is the widespread availability of this energy source,” explained Dr Georg Böttner, hydrogen coordinator at HHLA. “HHLA, too, is searching for the best answers to this question, which is why we are in volved in the key TransHyDE project.”

Hydrogen is rarely used at the same location where it is manufactured. TransHyDE is tackling this problem and wants to develop a holistic approach to the production, transportation and use of hydrogen. Together with other partners, HHLA is examining the various transport options here and is involved in the TransHyDE projects “Mukran” and “Helgoland” on the islands of Rügen and Heligoland, respectively, where the transportation of hydrogen in high-pressure containers as well as via LOHCs (liquid organic hydrogen carriers) is being tested.

HHLA intends to become climate-neutral by 2040 as part of its sustainability strategy.

By Rebecca Jeffrey