Germany puts $17 bln on gas-to-hydrogen projects

Germany has earmarked USD 17 billion in subsidies to develop hydrogen-ready power generation plants, the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action of Germany announced on Monday.

The funds will include initial capital and operating subsidies.

Each of the four gas facilities will have a total capacity of 10 GW and are expected to be tendered in the near future.

Under the government’s current hydrogen transition plans, the facilities will be expected to switch from gas to hydrogen between 2035 and 2040.

No further information on these upcoming developments was given.

Additionally, the government also said it planned to subsidise hydrogen-exclusive power plants with a capacity of up to 500 MW for research purposes.

A plan to develop a new market-based capacity mechanism was also unveiled to address a larger supply of renewables within the national energy mix, which is expected to be voted on by Q3 2024 and operational by 2028.