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.

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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.