Energy ministers take a look at hydrogen and industrial electricity
The energy ministers of the federal states are pushing for an accelerated development of the hydrogen economy in Germany. At the conference of department heads in Merseburg (Saxony-Anhalt), several applications are to be discussed on Thursday. The federal government should transfer corresponding EU standards into national law as quickly as possible, said Saxony-Anhalt’s Energy Minister Armin Willingmann. The SPD politician is chairman of the Energy Ministers’ Conference this year.
Willingmann assumes that the economy will continue to depend on imports in the future. “Basically, you have to realize that the fourth largest economy in the world will not be energy self-sufficient,” he said. One could become more independent, “but we will never be able to completely do without energy imports”. That is why European networking in the energy market is important, and reliable international partners are needed. “Nation-state solutions are really absurd in the energy sector.”
Willingmann emphasized that hydrogen should ensure the energy supply for industry in the future. “We will never be able to produce it ourselves in the required quantities. So we are still dependent on having partners in the world for whom this might also be an interesting business model.”