As part of the Interreg Alpine Space funded project AMETHyST, the civic foundation Energiewende Oberland (EWO) gathered numerous different stakeholders in order to debate about the joint Bavarian Oberland hydrogen strategy. In the astonishingly well-filled conference room at the Bad Tölz district office, regional hydrogen pilot projects, network operators and companies (focused on the development of hydrogen technology) presented their work to a highly interested audience. Local political actors and citizens of all kinds were invited to attend the utterly informative panel discussion and later, contribute to the debate. The high number of participants revealed the EWO has its fingers on the puls: (Green) Hydrogen is currently of extraordinary priority and interest when it comes to energy independency and decarbonization within the energy sector.
Stefan Dürr -connected to the event via Video Call from Nürnberg- elucidated the general Bavarian Hydrogen strategy. He provided a brief overview about the platform H2.B which illustrates different perspectives and recommendations in terms of hydrogen utilization and development. According to the strategy papers, the goal is to promote the production of green H2 in Bavaria and guarantee accessibility for regional partners. However, Dürr also emphasized the limits of regional sustainable hydrogen production at the moment. The other ‘analog’ speakers at the summit mainly focused on the practical integration of hydrogen into the local energy management. Dr. Andreas Seebach, founder of white energy explained the possibilities of H2 applications in the building sector by introducing his H2 house to the audience. White energy and their progressive idea of a self-sustainable building have been selected as a ‘flagship’ by the EWO within the scope of the project AMETHyST. Hubert Kohler, board member of BlueFlux Energy, presented another locally established unique technology: Twelve years ago, BlueFlux Energy developed a progressive alternative to the electrolysis that might revolutionize the assessment of agriculture. They established a process that allows them to generated green hydrogen from sewage sludge and organic residues. Thomas Zorn, head of the Hydrogen Division at the Tyczka Group, underlined in his lecture that progress is to strive for at all levels. To guarantee a reliable, carbon-neutral energy supply based on Hydrogen, we have to push all ideas occurring in the process. Last but not least, Michael Schneider, employed for the grid operator Energienetze Oberbayern curbed the ambitious spirit by referring about the present network operation status: As long as (green) hydrogen is too expensive to be competitive, all pioneering approaches will remain only of marginal significance. But Schneiders’ reference to the sobering reality could hardly deflate the enthusiasm of this Hydrogen Summit taking place in the Beginning of July, 2023.
The event and all the individual presentations can be looked up with English, Slovenian, French and Italian subtitles under the following Link:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SIc1YzrQfbM&list=PLG660u7JJMTvljc6IfiRUE2SGheGz2ufZ
