The "Hydrogen Alliance Chemnitz Region" aims to connect the region to the core network. The founding members, consisting of the City of Chemnitz, HZwo, the Chemnitz Chamber of Industry and Commerce and the utilities eins energie in sachsen GmbH and inetz GmbH, believe that the future of regional industry and its role in implementing the national hydrogen strategy would otherwise be threatened.
The Mayor of Chemnitz, Sven Schulze, the Chairman of the Board of Directors of the supplier eins, Roland Warner, the Managing Director of inetz GmbH, Jörg Scheibe, the President of the Chemnitz Chamber of Industry and Commerce, Max Jankowsky, and the Managing Director of HZwo e. V., Karl Lötsch, signed the corresponding cooperation agreement on Monday (22.01.) in Chemnitz City Hall.
According to the five founding members, the development of the hydrogen economy in south-west Saxony has "great potential for value creation and jobs". In addition, the use of hydrogen could secure existing industrial jobs and value chains.
However, the region's expected demand for hydrogen cannot be covered by its own production. Therefore, a connection to a supra-regional supply infrastructure such as the hydrogen core network is absolutely essential in the interests of the region.
Consumption is currently already over 100 GWh and rising
The Mayor of Chemnitz, Sven Schule, emphasized that the location is a "pioneer in the implementation of the National Hydrogen Strategy". In order to be able to fulfill this role, "the connection to the federal hydrogen core network is not debatable, but a matter of course." Karl Lötsch, Managing Director of the Saxon hydrogen technology cluster HZwo e. V., also stated that Chemnitz wants to become one of the "leading hydrogen regions in Europe."
Roland Warner, Chairman of the eins Management Board, and inetz Managing Director Jörg Scheibe put the expected demand for hydrogen from large industrial consumers at around 1 TWh by 2032. Integration into the hydrogen core network is essential in order to be able to cover this demand in the future.
Chemnitz hydrogen innovation center is the only one without a grid connection
Federal Economics Minister Robert Habeck presented the plans for the hydrogen core network in November. With a pipeline length of 9,700 km, it is to form the basic framework for hydrogen supply in the high-pressure range. In contrast to the cities of Dresden and Leipzig, there are no plans to connect the Chemnitz region. This means that the hydrogen innovation center planned here by 2027 would be the only one in Germany without direct access to the core network.
The five founding members of the new alliance want to counteract this. They are:
- The city of Chemnitz
- the supplier eins
- inetz GmbH
- the IHK Chemnitz and
- and the hydrogen technology cluster HZwo e. V.
Other companies are also invited to join the alliance. In Saxony, the establishment of a hydrogen partnership between the Free State and the Czech Republic was recently agreed. The state's hydrogen activities are being coordinated by the HZwo e. V. cluster.
