As part of its economic recovery plans, the German government has adopted a 7 billion euro ‘package for the future’ to speed up the market rollout of hydrogen technology. Another 2 billion euros are provided to foster international partnerships. This is in addition to several funding envelopes totalling over a billion euros for fuel cell technology innovations, the industrial adoption of hydrogen solutions, as well as investment in technologies and large-scale industrial facilities which use hydrogen to decarbonize their manufacturing processes.

The greatest demand for hydrogen in Germany is currently linked to material production processes. It is evenly distributed between the basic chemical (production of ammonia, methanol, etc.) and the petrochemical sector (production of conventional fuels). The bulk of the hydrogen being used in these processes is ‘grey’ hydrogen and so one of the key goals set out in Germany’s National Hydrogen Strategy is to shift from ‘grey hydrogen’ to ‘blue/turquoise’ (CO₂ neutral) and ‘green’ hydrogen (no CO₂).

The main use cases Germany is targeting include areas where hydrogen makes sense from an economical and efficiency perspective:

1. Long-haul and heavy transportation (e.g. aviation and marine transportation)
2. The chemical industry and refineries (e.g. hydrogen for basic chemicals and as a basis for other synthetic energy sources)
3. Heavy industry such as steel and metal production
4. Cement, glass and ceramics production in combination with carbon sources
   (e.g. Carbon Capture and Usage)

Please find the official strategy document here (in English).