Austria – new hydrogen strategy slams use in heating, transport.
The Austrian government has now joined the club of countries that have presented a hydrogen strategy. Vienna will aim for significant electrolysis capacity, replacing fossil hydrogen by 2030 and stringent usage prioritisation.
Hydrogen strategies tend to lay out a government’s approach to the clean-burning gas and smallest element. The Austrian government’s strategy stands out due to its conservative approach and clear prioritisation in the use of the limited hydrogen amounts available – notably in its rejection of the energy source’s use in heating systems and vehicles.
Leonore Gewessler, Austria’s climate minister during the presentation of the strategy on 2 June, said:
Green hydrogen is the champagne of the energy transition. It is valuable and versatile – but not infinite.
“That is why we will make the best possible use of it. Our hydrogen strategy now shows how we can do this,” she added.
To that end, the Austrian government graded possible uses of hydrogen from inefficient to priority. Using hydrogen as a chemical feedstock in steelmaking for example is considered a high priority use.
On the other hand, hydrogen cars, medium-sized heavy-duty trucks and low-temperature heat in homes and industrial processes are considered “inefficient” by the Austrian government.
“In the case of cars, e-cars have taken over. We can heat flats and houses much more efficiently in other ways. That is why we will not use green hydrogen in these areas,” Gewessler explained.
Even in 2030, the hydrogen that’ll be available in Austria will still be rather limited.
The Austrian government is targeting an electrolyser capacity of 1 Gigawatt by 2030. It will thus be contributing around 1% to the EU’s target of producing 10 megatonnes of hydrogen per year within the bloc, as per industry calculations.
This will produce around 4 Terawatt hours (TWh) worth of hydrogen, consuming about 6.5 TWh of electricity per year. As of 2030, Austria’s hydrogen production will amount to about 10% of the country’s 2021 electricity use. Last year, Austria consumed 64.6 TWh of electricity.
This will further strain the Austrian government’s ambition to have all electricity generation be renewable in 2030.
Funding the transformation
The production facilities for green hydrogen, which will split water into oxygen and hydrogen molecules using renewable electricity, will receive €40 million a year of state funding.
With the Austrian overarching goal of climate neutrality in 2040, the government wants 80% of hydrogen used in 2030 to be “climate-neutral.”
Martin Kocher, minister for economy, said:
We want to replace 80% of the consumption of fossil-generated hydrogen in industry with climate-neutral hydrogen by 2030.
This enjoys the support of industry, as it is seen as less restrictive than a pure focus on green hydrogen.
Georg Knill, head of the Federation of Austrian Industry (IV), said:
The technology-open approach chosen in the strategy with “climate-neutral” hydrogen is expressly welcomed.
Nonetheless, calls for additional financial support were quickly raised.
Harald Mahrer, president of the Austrian chamber of commerce (WKÖ), citing the Dutch government’s pledge of €5 billion until 2030 said:
Austria must take its cue from the hydrogen pioneers the Netherlands and Germany so that we don’t lose out on the competition.
Late to the party
The industry associations also slammed the Austrian hydrogen strategy for having arrived far too late.
“The European Commission and also most EU countries have had hydrogen strategies for a long time. Austria has finally followed suit,” commented Mahrer. IV’s Knill called it “long desired.”
The Commission had published its hydrogen strategy in 2020 and recently updated its targets as part of its REPowerEU plan in May. The German government adopted its hydrogen strategy in 2020, as well as the Dutch government.
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Austria’s new hydrogen strategy slams use in heating, transport, June 3, 2022
