Germany must speed up hydrogen plans this year - gas pipeline group OGE (updated)

OGE Energy

18/01/2023 14:32

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      Gas pipeline companies ready to prepare for switch
    

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      legal clarity needed to unleash investment
    

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      Berlin government should be aware of global race
    

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      No comment on talk Macquarie wants to sell its OGE share
    

  
 (Adds details)
    By Vera Eckert and Tom Käckenhoff
       FRANKFURT/DUESSELDORF, Jan 18 (Reuters) - Germany must
accelerate a hydrogen law revision, which is pending in Berlin,
to allow for related investments in gas transport networks up to
the end of the decade, said the head of the biggest gas pipeline
operator, Open Grid Europe (OGE).
    Gas carriers must prepare for the shift to renewables to
complement Germany's plan to produce, import and market clean
hydrogen, derived from carbon-free wind and solar power, as a
future energy source.
    "I would like the revision of the hydrogen strategy update
to be completed in the first quarter of 2023," OGE chief Joerg
Bergmann told Reuters in an interview.
    "Investment decisions have to be taken now, ideally by the
summer, because adjusting and expanding pipelines to carry
hydrogen needs between around three and six years," he said on
the sidelines of the Handelsblatt Energy Summit 2023.
    Economy Minister Robert Habeck told the conference that
hydrogen-ready gas-fired power plants must also be part of the
climate strategy, replacing coal and nuclear energy.
    Germany plans to achieve 10 gigawatts of green hydrogen
production capacity by 2030 to complement imports.
        The chief of OGE, which operates 12,000 km of
high-pressure pipelines, said Berlin's failure to act now could
lead to a loss of industry that depends on secure energy
supplies.
    The European Union should decide on rules for un-bundling
gas networks by the summer, Bergmann also said. 
    Some campaigners want to block joint operations of hydrogen
and gas grids by the same company to reduce the role of fossil
fuel incumbents in the future.
    The grouping of German gas pipeline operators last year
estimated 8 billion euros ($8.69 billion) were necessary to
account for hydrogen in their 2022-2032 investment plans, which
are refunded via network usage fees.
    Additional funds for OGE's plans would be covered by its
shareholders, Bergmann said.
    These are Macquarie  MQG.AX  with 24%, British Columbia
Investment Management, with a 32% stake, the Abu Dhabi
Investment Authority with 25%, and Munich Re  MUVGn.DE  with
19%.
    Bergmann declined to comment on market talk that Macquarie
wants to sell its share.
($1 = 0.9207 euros)
 (Reporting by Vera Eckert and Tom Kaeckenhoff, additional
reporting by Christoph Steitz, editing by Rachel More and Tomasz
Janowski)
 ((vera.eckert@thomsonreuters.com; +49 30 2201 33654;
@EckertVera;))