„Expand the National Hydrogen Strategy and involve small and medium-sized enterprises“

06.11.2020 – Gelsenkirchen/Berlin. Last week (on 26 October) in Berlin, entrepreneur Lars Baumgürtel from Gelsenkirchen advocated for the energy-intensive medium-sized industrial sector to be considered in the National Hydrogen Strategy. The managing partner of the Voigt & Schweitzer Group (ZINQ) was one of the seven experts who gave statements to the Bundestag Committee on Economic Affairs and Energy regarding the Federal Government's draft bill on the hydrogen strategy. The committee meeting was broadcast with a time delay on parliamentary television and online at www.bundestag.de on 27 October. 

In his statement, Baumgürtel, who is also Vice President of the IHK North Westphalia, advocates for an expansion of the National Hydrogen Strategy. He criticised that process heat has not yet played a role in the federal government's strategy. However, process heat accounts for almost two-thirds of the industry's total energy demand.

„If the estimated 300,000 large industrial combustion plants of energy-intensive companies in Germany could switch from natural gas to hydrogen, a great deal would already be achieved for climate protection,“ Baumgürtel made clear how much could be achieved here very quickly in his assessment.

The potential for CO₂ savings is in the same order of magnitude as the decarbonisation of the German steel industry. His central demand is therefore the „equal inclusion of process heat as an application and field of action“ in the hydrogen strategy.

The inclusion of process heat goes hand-in-hand with Baumgärtel's demand to correct the calculation of hydrogen requirements. The approximately 100 terawatt-hours are far too low. The entrepreneur from Gelsenkirchen sees the demand rather at 500 terawatt-hours. This is because he also demands „that the use of hydrogen should be open to all interested parties under the same conditions“. If the state decides to promote climate protection in the economy, „it should not restrict this to certain sectors or company sizes“.

Baumgürtel was astonished that only the steel and chemical industries were specifically being offered support within the national hydrogen industry. He illustrated the potential range of applications for hydrogen among manufacturers of sand-lime bricks, clinkers, quicklime, paper, or glass, as well as in metal processing companies such as foundries, hardening plants, or galvanising works, and in the production of starch or malt. „These manufacturers would certainly also like to benefit from support,“ emphasised the entrepreneur from Gelsenkirchen, who is the chairman of the IHK Industry Committee. Baumgürtel also considers it important to make the hydrogen strategy „technology-neutral,“ meaning not to focus solely on so-called green hydrogen. „This focus harbours the danger of a braking effect, as green hydrogen will not be available in sufficient quantities before 2030 and will become a luxury product that would be unaffordable, particularly for small and medium-sized enterprises,“ said Baumgürtel. It would be better to set the CO₂ footprint of hydrogen as the target criterion, rather than the production process, Baumgürtel emphasised to the Bundestag committee.