Hamburg’s hydrogen project secures funding

Hamburg looks set to benefit from state funding after Germany’s Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) said it will approve substantial amounts of funding for three key hydrogen projects as part of the implementation of the National Hydrogen Strategy. Their purpose is to facilitate Germany’s transition to a hydrogen economy over a period of four years. The three projects are the serial manufacture of large-scale water electrolysers (H2Giga), the offshore production of hydrogen and secondary products (H2Mare) and technologies for the transportation of hydrogen (TransHyDE).

More than 240 partners from the scientific and industrial sectors are working together on the key hydrogen projects. Hamburger Hafen und Logistik AG (HHLA) is one of these partners and can now draw on an additional €2.3 million to test new transportation technologies for Green Hydrogen. “An important question in the development of hydrogen technology is the widespread availability of this energy source,” explained Dr. Georg Böttner, who is responsible for HHLA’s hydrogen project. “HHLA, too, is searching for the best answers to this question, which is why we are involved in the key TransHyDE project.”

Hydrogen is rarely used at the same location where it is manufactured. TransHyDE is tackling this problem and wants to develop a holistic approach to the production, transportation and use of hydrogen. Together with other partners, HHLA is examining the various transport options here and is involved in the TransHyDE projects “Mukran” and “Helgoland” on the islands of Rügen and Heligoland, respectively, where the transportation of hydrogen in high-pressure containers as well as via LOHCs (liquid organic hydrogen carriers) is being tested.