Green or Blue: Hydrogen Controversy Heats Up in Germany
The debate in Germany over the energy transition, and particularly the availability of green hydrogen, is becoming increasingly heated. According to Robert Habeck, Minister of Economic Affairs and Climate Protection, the German government has allocated 3.5 billion euros for green hydrogen imports from 2027 to 2036.
Hydrogen has a very important place in the ongoing discussion concerning the energy transition and decarbonization, although it currently represents only a very small fraction of the available energy carriers. Hydrogen is colorless. When it is assigned the color “green” or “blue,” this only defines the production methods of this environmental fuel. “Green” hydrogen is extracted from water (already a very valuable natural resource that is in short supply worldwide) using electricity, which must necessarily be generated by a power plant that in turn is powered by renewable energy sources, such as hydroelectric, solar or photovoltaic. On the other hand, “blue” hydrogen is what is extracted from natural gas. Carbon dioxide emitted during the process is not released into the air, but is captured and stored.
Michael Lewis, CEO of the German energy company Uniper, entered the polemic with apologists for “green” hydrogen in Berlin, saying: “The development of the hydrogen industry needs to utilize blue hydrogen because green hydrogen will not at all be available in sufficient quantities in the near future.”
Lewis said that also because of the costs, Germany and the world should focus on technologies based on storing blue hydrogen and CO2 (CCS). According to Lewis, this is the only way we can contribute to “reducing the costs of the energy transition” and “guarantee a competitive energy supply.” Currently, producing “blue” hydrogen is significantly cheaper than producing the “green” version. In this context, Uniper’s CEO confirmed that the company intends to build gas-fired power plants converted to hydrogen.