Germany will host annual auctions for 500MW of green hydrogen powered by offshore wind from this year until 2028, according to today’s update of the country’s national H2 strategy.
The plan had previously been announced in July 2022, when the government revised its Offshore Wind Energy Act to allow non-price criteria in its offshore wind auctions — but has not yet been enacted.
The new updated strategy says: “500MW of installed electrolysis capacity will be put out to tender annually in the years 2023 to 2028 for the generation of system-friendly green hydrogen.”
The document explains the term “system-friendly” as follows: “By intelligently interlocking electrolysis with the electricity system and the transport and storage infrastructure for hydrogen (“system-friendly electrolysis”), we gain an important flexibility option for the energy transition and limit the need to expand the electricity grid.”
There are no further details about the offshore wind/hydrogen auctions, such as when they might be held, in the document.
In January, Germany announced a plan to generate 30GW of offshore wind by 2030, which set aside an area of the North Sea for offshore green hydrogen production.
This SEN-1 zone will have an electrolyser capacity of up to 1GW, with an electricity cable to shore forbidden and a hydrogen pipeline required.
In March, the Netherlands announced a 500MW tender for offshore green hydrogen production in the North Sea.
