Editorial

In October, the Day of Germany Unity was celebrated in Hamburg, as Hamburg presided over the Bundesrat last year. Our cluster agency took the opportunity to be part of this celebration with a stand, presentation and green lights around the Binnenalster. The green electricity for these was generated using green hydrogen kindly provided by our member, GP Joule. Why were we there even though the 700,000 attendees from the general public are not the typical trade visitor to whom we as the EEHH Cluster Agency usually provide information?

It was important for us to show our face at this celebration, because 33 years after reunification, the energy transition is perhaps one of the most important tasks of today’s society, despite the fact that a lot has already been achieved. In the mid-1990s, some energy supply stakeholders boldly claimed that renewable energies, including wind power, could never secure more than just a few percent of the electricity supply. Today, over 50 percent of the electricity supply comes from renewables. As a society, we have started to increasingly use green electricity, including for mobility and heat supply. The renewable energy industry can be proud of this, but also needs to enter into dialogue with the public regarding the achievements and challenges. This is what we did and visitor feedback was largely positive.

Last but not least, it was also important for us to demonstrate that the basis of the energy transition is to generate as much renewable energy as possible. At the same time, however, it is also crucial that we convert some of this green electricity into green hydrogen, so that those sectors that are generally regarded as ‘difficult to decarbonise’ can also maintain climate-neutral operations in future. We are talking about steel production and chemicals, for example, where fossil fuels are used to achieve temperatures that cannot be reached using electricity, or as raw materials for certain substances, e.g. plastic. Or so that it can be used in shipping, aviation or areas of logistics where it is usually impossible to operate electric drives with batteries. In addition to green electricity, we also need green hydrogen or synthetic, green energy sources converted from hydrogen.

That is why we not only sourced the green electricity for the lights from the power grid, but also included other elements to showcase green hydrogen. Both these messages were important to us. Of course, the green lights also looked fantastic and we were delighted to be involved!