Spring traditionally means a full calendar for members of the German Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Association, or DWV for short. It is the season in which industry stakeholders meet at Hannover Messe and the Energy Storage Europe, but it is also the time to prepare the annual member assembly, which was held in Erlangen on May 12 this year. Additionally, the DWV often organizes a so-called “parliamentary evening” in the first half of the year; in 2017, the topic that evening on March 30 in the French embassy in Berlin was sector integration. On top of that, the association’s deputy chair, Johannes Töpler, has been busy this year trying to breathe new life into the hydrogen industry in the German state of Bavaria.
His efforts have led to the first Bavarian Hydrogen Forum, which took place in Energiepark Hirschaid on April 1. Together with Frank Seuling, the organizer of the fourth element‑e energy trade show, Töpler is seeking to give hydrogen technologies again a more prominent role in the debate over the future energy supply of the region. Around 2000, Bavaria used to be a leader in H2, but politics has seemingly all but abandoned the technology by now.
yes, DWV members are quite busy. Recently.
And to but it right, to avoid further misunderstandings:
The German state Bavaria did not leave the funding of H2 and FC without reasons.
After the completion of the “very famous” hydrogen filling station
at the Munich MUC airport, (of which most people think, it is stall running).
However, it was closed the day, the funding money was running out.
So, the Bavarian State reps asked the “poor” industry,
if they would like to carry on with other funded H2/FC projects.
Under the condition, that Bavaria would only fund 30% of the
(easy to manipulate…) cost.
The H2 filing station @ MUC was funded to poor companies
like BMW, Linde and MAN with 50%.
Put to decide between these alternatives, the industry said:
NO, we still want 50% of our cost from the tax-payers money!
That was the moment, Bavaria closed ALL fundings of H2 and FC projects.
While, in the meantime, other German states just started, in doing so.