Plans to build a fleet of hydrogen power plants to supplement wind turbines and solar panels are faltering, amid a budgetary squeeze and dem
Plans to build a fleet of hydrogen power plants to supplement wind turbines and solar panels are faltering, amid a budgetary squeeze and demands for cost-cutting from industry. By 2035, Germany wants to produce 100% of its power in a climate-neutral way. To back up wind turbines and solar panels, whose production is expected to dominate in the coming years, the government initially envisioned a fleet of hydrogen-fired power plants. But these plans are now faltering amid a prolonged government budgetary crisis, said Sigfried Russwurm, the president of Germany’s powerful industry association BDI. Despite “promised decisive breakthroughs” on a power plant strategy in 2023, “none of the necessary issues have been clarified,” Russwurm said on Tuesday (16 January). How did we get there? In early August 2023, the German government triumphantly announced that the European Commission had essentially greenlit its plan for subsidised backup power plants. That meant 8.8 GW of dedicated hydrogen power plants, alongside 15 GW of natural gas-powered ones that ought to switch to hydrogen by 2035 at the latest, in total representing about one-third of the German peak power demand of 2023. Climate-friendly power at the press of a button. Because these plants would likely only produce power in periods of sustained low wind and low sun – known as “kalte Dunkelflaute” – they are unlikely to make a profit without state support. And critically, the annual €7 billion earmarked for this purpose “evaporated” following a ruling from Germany’s top court, which restricted the government’s use of credit lines approved during the COVID-19 crisis. With no hydrogen plants available as backup, coal power will likely be needed to fill the gap, the BDI chief warned. “As long as the prospect of new backup power plants based on hydrogen does not get off the ground […] the solution in Germany will be the continued operation of coal-fired power plants,” Russwurm told the press on Tuesday (16 January).
continue reading














