Es sounded like a deep sigh, which Robert Habeck repeated several times on his trip to Norway: “Carbon dioxide in the ground is always better than in the atmosphere.” To do this, the federal government relies on the capture and storage of CO2. This is not permitted in Germany, but has been tried and tested in Norway for decades.
In this respect, the state has double importance for the Federal Republic. On the one hand, the gas can be injected here deep in the seabed: as soon as the amended London Protocol on Marine Protection has been ratified, the Scandinavians will be allowed to CO2 import from Germany. On the other hand, “blue” hydrogen can be produced from Norwegian natural gas, in which the released CO2 is also stored in the so-called CCS procedure.
After the absence of Russian deliveries, the following applies: “Norway is today our most important energy supplier and should remain so on the way to a climate-neutral future,” said Habeck. Germany gets most of its gas from there, and soon they want to import more wind energy and hydrogen, first blue, then green. To achieve this, the Vice Chancellor and the Oslo side signed several declarations on energy cooperation. Habeck met Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre and the Ministers for Energy, Industry and Environment.
Strategic partnership for green industry
One of the two joint declarations includes building a strategic partnership on climate, renewable energy and green industry. But it is also about raw materials and microelectronics. Another declaration sets the common goal of achieving a “large-scale supply of hydrogen” by 2030 and building the necessary infrastructure. This means a pipeline that will initially deliver natural gas and blue hydrogen, but will also lead past new wind farms at sea.
The plan is to produce green hydrogen there to replace the other gases. Oslo and Berlin agree that after the attacks on Nord Stream 1 and 2, the infrastructure needs better protection. Therefore, Habeck’s State Secretary Patrick Graichen (Greens) will soon be traveling to Oslo to take part in the responsible pipeline commission.
Habeck assured that the new projects are “market-driven” and that the state does not finance them. It is fitting that RWE and the Norwegian company Equinor signed a strategic energy partnership to set up a cross-border hydrogen economy during Habeck’s trip. RWE has brought forward the phase-out of coal from 2038 to 2030 and therefore needs replacements quickly to generate electricity. They want to build new gas-fired power plants that will run on hydrogen as soon as possible.
Hydrogen as a gas substitute
“Blue hydrogen in large quantities can start and then become greener and greener,” said RWE Chairman Markus Krebber in Oslo. Equinor, formerly Statoil, announced plans to build two gigawatts (GW) of blue hydrogen capacity by 2030 and 10 GW by 2038. The necessary pipeline is currently being examined. RWE is not only a buyer, but also wants to cooperate with Equinor in the production of green hydrogen from wind power.
The power plants planned by the companies in Germany should start in 2030 with three GW. Their purpose is to take over the role of coal and nuclear power plants as a back-up for phases when wind and solar energy are lacking. When they go into operation, the systems are supposed to run on 50 percent hydrogen, and then completely in the mid-1930s. There was no information on the amount of the investment.
On the fringes of his visit, Habeck announced that after the liquid gas terminal in Wilhelmshaven, the other landing points would also go online: Lubmin next week and Brunsbüttel in two weeks. He thanked the Norwegians for the strong expansion of gas supplies during the energy crisis. Germany has largely mastered this. This is supported by the fact that the Federal Network Agency improved its assessment of the gas market situation on Thursday for the first time in months. A shortage this winter is now considered “increasingly unlikely”.
