On May 12th, 2022, German transport minister Dr. Volker Wissing set off the next round of the HyLand program. Representatives from each of the 15 HyStarter and HyExpert Regions came to Berlin to hear the funding decisions from the ministry for transport and digital infrastructure (Bundesministerium für Digitales und Verkehr, BMDV). In addition, Wissing announced another call for HyPerformer Regions – also for this year.
New hydrogen refueling stations continue to spring up but Germany has yet to pass the 100-station mark. How can that be? The reason for this apparent stagnation lies in the dismantling or renovation of old filling stations. A number of stations that were built several years ago as demonstrators for the first stage of Germany’s national hydrogen innovation program are showing their age. Consequently, some are no longer economical to run and are being taken down or – at widely varying expense – upgraded.
2nd round of HyLand competition kicks off
“We’re not talking about Champagne, we’re talking about table water.” This was the pronouncement of Katherina Reiche, chairwoman of Germany’s National Hydrogen Council, as she instigated proceedings at this year’s H2Congress. On Jan. 26 and 27, 2021, over 3,000 attendees gathered online for a joint conference consolidating the NIP General Assembly and the German Hydrogen Congress. In among the discussions came the announcement that the second round of the HyLand competition would soon open.
A study called ShipFuel has analyzed how technically and economically feasible it is to use fuel cell systems running on electricity-derived fuels aboard inland waterway vessels by comparing them with conventional diesel engines used for ship propulsion.
The study, commissioned by the German transportation ministry, was coordinated by NOW under the auspices of the German NIP program.
During the NIP year-end conference by the German federal transportation ministry BMVI last Dec. 14 in Berlin, attendees seemed to be listening to a unique “success story”: EUR 700 million in incentives, almost 700 projects and around 500 industry partners for R&D and market preparation from 2006 through 2016. The program’s successes were presented by Germany’s transport minister, Alexander Dobrindt, and several managers of central NIP projects during two half days
Most of his working life, Thorsten Herdan held jobs in the industry developing combustion technology. After having been elected secretary-general of the International Council on Combustion Engines, the mechanical engineer also served as chair of the Research Association for Combustion Engines for fourteen years. Since 1999, he has headed Power Systems, a sector group of the German Engineering Federation – from 2000 on, he has been responsible for Energy Policy there as well.