“However, the supply of green hydrogen is also becoming a concern of survival,” stated a German Green legislator. For energy-intensive industries like steel and chemicals, this is critical.
Green hydrogen, which is created using sustainable energy sources, according to Günther, has a lot of potential. “However, in some parts of Saxony, this will simply determine whether huge enterprises and industries have a future.” He used the so-called industrial arch in the Meissen district as an example of a heavy industry site with thousands of employees.
Climate neutrality entails a broad use of green hydrogen for these enterprises, according to the minister: “I appreciate the industrial arch’s push for climate-neutral hydrogen and the spread of renewable energies.” The industrial arch, like almost every other region in Saxony, mixes various types of energy generation, conversion, transportation, and usage in the tiniest of spaces. The environment is conducive to creativity.
“We need to work together to keep these and other areas, as well as local businesses, competitive,” Günther added. That is why, in January, Saxony decided on its hydrogen policy. “This is a watershed moment. When it comes to hydrogen, Saxony has the ideal conditions for being a leading player.” “But we constantly come back to the same question: how rapidly can renewables be expanded? How soon may the legal and planning restraints be lifted?” Green hydrogen requires more clean power than is required for enterprises, families, and electric vehicles. Renewable energy expansion is already a locational disadvantage for business settlements.
“On the other hand, in coal-phase-out districts, this implies that the energy transition protects and generates jobs, and provides the foundation for structural transformation,” added the minister. “Those who are still braking today must take their foot off the brakes while increasing renewables,” says a responsible economic policymaker. Plant builders, municipal utilities, and others, according to Günther, are already in the starting blocks: “The availability of space is an area where we need to be much faster. In Saxony, there is adequate area for renewable energy growth that is also far enough away from towns to be legally compatible and approved.”
In the Industriebogen energy network, enterprises including Wacker Chemie in Nünchritz, Feralpi Stahl, Mannesmann Rohrenwerke, and Schmiedewerke Gröditz forged an agreement last week. One of the objectives is to make hydrogen a viable energy carrier.
