The resulting study, which is the first of its kind, aims to assess the feasibility of a transnational green hydrogen supply chain in the Netherlands and Germany. The analysis time frame spans from 2025 to 2050.
The European Union(EU)aims for a climate-neutral energy system by 2050 andisin the midst of the energy transition. International cooperation is essential if this is to succeed. This is especially true for the Netherlands and Germany–countries that share both a land and a sea border. Furthermore, both countries have ambitious goals concerning the further expansion of offshore wind energy production and are front-runners in investigating and promoting hydrogen utilisation.
With the Joint Declaration of Intent on the Energy Transition, the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Climate Policy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands and the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy of the Federal Republic of Germany declared their ambitions for energy policy cooperation. The declaration envisages the joint cross-border development of offshore wind projects and infrastructure development in the North Sea region. Hydrogen with its potential to serve as an energy carrier, enabler of sector coupling and system integration, as well as a feedstock for several industrial processes was identifiedas a key topic. The development of European, Dutch, and German hydrogen strategies and the North Rhine-Westphalian hydrogen road map further establishes a political framework for hydrogen market development.
The trilateral project “Hy3–Large-scale Hydrogen Production from Offshore Wind to Decarbonise the Dutch and German Industry”was initiated by the Netherlands, the Federal Republic of Germany, and the German Federal State of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW). Its realisation is assigned to TNO as assigned party for the Netherlands, the research centre Forschungszentrum Jülich (IEK-3) as the assigned party for the German Federal State of North Rhine-Westphalia, and the Deutsche Energie-Agentur (dena)–the German Energy Agency–as the assigned party for the Federal Republic of Germany.