Under the impression of the current energy crisis, Hamburg is speeding up the planned hydrogen network in the port. The project is to start earlier than planned, and construction work is to begin next year, as the municipal utility Gasnetz Hamburg announced on Wednesday. Accordingly, the Federal Ministry of Economics approved an "early start of measures" before the start of a final funding commitment.
The hydrogen network is part of around a dozen projects for which several Hamburg companies had jointly applied for funding as part of the "Important Projects of Common European Interest" (IPCEI) program. "An exact funding amount will only be known with the funding decision, which Gasnetz Hamburg expects towards the end of the year."
The network will initially be 40 kilometers long and will supply industry in the port area with climate-neutrally produced “green” hydrogen. As a large contiguous industrial area, the port is considered an ideal location for a hydrogen ecosystem. This also includes the plan to build a large electrolyser for hydrogen production at the site of the long-controversial Hamburg-Moorburg coal-fired power plant, which has now gone offline.
"In the subsequent expansion stages, the network will be connected to the European hydrogen transmission network and is expected to grow to a network length of more than 60 kilometers in the years to come," the statement said. "Seaside import infrastructures for green hydrogen could also feed in in the future."
Climate and Energy Senator Jens Kerstan (Greens) said that the HH-WIN hydrogen network would make it possible to convert more than a third of Hamburg's natural gas consumption to fossil-free. "Especially in the current situation, we have to keep a close eye on the triad of security of supply, sustainability and affordability of the energy supply and free ourselves from our dependence on fossil fuels as quickly as possible."
