Together with the Indo-German Chamber of Commerce (IGCC), Indo-German Energy Forum Support Office (IGEF-SO) organised an Indian business delegation to Germany from 26 September to 1 October 2022 on the topics of green hydrogen and offshore wind. The tour featured a visit to the WindEnergy Hamburg 2022 and H2 Expo & Conference.

On 27 September, a guided tour at the trade fair enabled the delegation to gain insights into the latest developments on the European energy market. Experts from companies with special interest in India presented their activities and explored possibilities for future collaboration and exchange between the respective businesses.

The 19 participants also had the chance to participate in several workshops which were organised and hosted by the International PtX Hub. They got to hear first-hand about initiatives to promote green hydrogen and PtX-products by speakers from Germany, Chile, Uruguay, Turkey, and India. A panel discussion focused on the regulatory frameworks of sustainable or green hydrogen and PtX-products emphasised the necessity for globally harmonised certification options. In the course of this event, Dr. Maue (BMWK) presented Germany’s energy transition and national hydrogen strategy, followed by an introduction to the International Hydrogen Ramp up Program (H2 Uppp) and how this project aims to promote green hydrogen and its derivatives in emerging and developing countries. An overview of the­­­ International Power-to-X Hub was given by Mr. Behrndt (GIZ), demonstrating how this knowledge exchange and dialogue platform works to accelerate the sustainable development of green PtX on a global scale. Diving into the EESG Framework (von Meyer, PtX Hub) allowed for an exploration of how PtX sustainability standards are important on various levels, ranging from the product to the policy level. This issue was also touched upon by Ms. Lakeit (dena), who presented Global Regulations and Standards for Renewable Hydrogen. Ms. Droste (dena) presented H2Global and Dr. Mete (Southpole) introduced the Hydrogen for Net-Zero Initiative, which focuses on bringing together various stakeholders of renewable and low-carbon hydrogen in order to facilitate making their hydrogen investments economically feasible.

During the conference, IGEF-SO also organised presentations of the three hydrogen flagship projects by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF), H2Mare, TransHyDe and H2Giga, which are an important contribution to establishing the German National Hydrogen Strategy. The projects were presented by Mr. Matthias Mueller, Siemens Energy, Mr. Jimmie Langham, CEO, cruh21, and Ms. Ulrike Möllmert, DECHEMA. Further, Mr. Emanuel Henrich, Project Manager, H2Global, gave insights into the H2Global mechanism, i.e. on international contracts of difference resulting from an auction-based mechanism to provide fixed green hydrogen volumes from third countries and secure minimum prices.

On 29 September, the delegates from India were officially welcomed by the Acting Council at the Consulate of India in Hamburg, which emphasised the close diplomatic relations between the two countries.

The tour ended with a boat trip to the offshore windfarm Nordergründe (close to Cuxhaven), which demonstrated the immense opportunity offshore wind energy bears, including for the value chain for green hydrogen and PtX-products. The first monopile for the Senvion turbines of the type 6.2M126 was set up 15 kilometres north-east of Wangerooge in the Weser estuary. All foundation structures had been completely installed in the mid of 2016. This was directly followed by installation of the wind turbines, which was completed at the beginning of December 2016. TenneT has implemented a three-phase grid connection. This is both technically and economically the most efficient solution, as the Nordergründe wind farm is only around 30 kilometres from the coast. The 155 kilovolt connection has a total length of 32 kilometers and can transport up to 111 megawatts (MW) of clean wind power. The grid connection point for the Nordergründe offshore project is the Inhausen transformer station north of Wilhelmshaven, which was extended for this purpose in 2012. Here the electricity is transformed to 220 kV and fed into the 220 kV transmission grid.