Hydrogen: Germany rebuffed by IPCEI

The European Hydrogen IPCEI was once considered a flagship initiative, but the German industry has a hard time getting approvals in Brussels. The German government now has to look for other funding opportunities for a third of the projects applied for – but this has advantages too.

There was great joy in May last year. „We want to become the world’s number 1 in hydrogen technologies,“ said Peter Altmaier, then Federal Minister for Economic Affairs and Energy, holding a map in his hand. On it: 62 projects from German industry that the Ministry for Economy and the Ministry of Transport had selected. From more than 230 applications, for €8 billion in government funding and investments totaling €33 billion. A prestige project of the German EU Council Presidency, the approvals were supposed to be available by the end of the year. But the vast majority of companies are still waiting. For some, the frustration became too great.

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