E.ON , one of Germany’s major utilities, announced on Friday that Germany is making progress towards achieving its green hydrogen market goals by the end of the decade, as reported by Reuters on April 21. In the past six months, new and larger green hydrogen projects have emerged, bringing Germany closer to its target of achieving 10 gigawatts of green hydrogen capacity by 2030. The production of green hydrogen, which is generated using wind and solar power, has become increasingly popular in industries such as steelmaking and cement as a substitute for grey hydrogen made with gas. 

Germany has accelerated its transition to renewable energy due to climate concerns and disruptions to gas supplies from Russia. E.ON reported that plans for hydrogen generation capacity have increased to 8.1 GW in February 2023, up from 5.6GW in July 2022. This development brings the government’s goal of achieving an installed capacity of 10 GW by 2030 closer to realization. E.ON also noted that the gap between hydrogen supply and demand is decreasing, but there are still challenges to be addressed, including the need for final investment decisions for many projects and the lack of infrastructure to transport green hydrogen. The German government has established new funds worth EUR550mn (USD608.1mn) to support green hydrogen projects last year, in addition to its existing multi-billion euro support program. This investment in green hydrogen is considered crucial in helping Germany reach its target of achieving net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2045.

Sources: 

https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/germany-improving-efforts-meet-2030-hydrogen-goals-says-eon-2023-04-21/

https://www.euronews.com/green/2023/03/27/berlin-votes-on-more-ambitious-climate-targets-can-it-catch-up-with-other-european-capital

https://www.cleanenergywire.org/news/germany-plans-additional-eu550-million-green-hydrogen-cooperation