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The resolutions proposed by the Executive Board and Supervisory Board were approved by a significant majority of shareholders at RWE AG’s virtual AGM. Aside from that, RWE CEO held a speech where he praised hydrogen development.
As expected, our result for Hydro/Biomass/Gas in 2020 was slightly below the result for 2019, when we benefited in particular from the one-off payment from the reinstatement of the British capacity market. We are also exploring whether, and how, we could use our underground gas storage facilities to store hydrogen made from green electricity.
The second pillar of the energy transition in addition to green electricity is hydrogen. It offers a realistic opportunity to decarbonise the areas that can’t be electrified. Industry above all. That is the only way to achieve climate goals, world-wide.
There is also huge potential in hydrogen for RWE. We have everything we need under one roof: green electricity, expertise in production, storage capacity and trading know-how. But there’s still a lot to do in this regard: Investment in green hydrogen is not yet financially viable. That’s because there’s no market for green hydrogen yet, there’s no established legal framework, and we don’t have the conditions in place for a fast market ramp-up.
It will still be some time until we see large-scale investments in this area. But here at RWE we’re already working hard on the preparations. We want to be there when it really takes off. I’m pleased that the German Federal government wants to lead the way in this area. However, instead of designing, regulating and financing gas and hydrogen networks separately, the existing gas network regulations should be extended to cover hydrogen. That would allow for meaningful integrated planning.
Rolf Martin Schmitz
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