Hydrogen for industry: Germany gets serious with Algeria

The German government is looking beyond Europe to supply hydrogen in coming years and has agreed on a task force with Algeria to facilitate the framework for imports.

Whilst progress on a European hydrogen pipeline connecting Spanish electrolysers to German industrial centres is being stalled by Paris, Berlin is looking to other parts of the former French empire.

“Germany and Algeria have maintained a close energy partnership since 2015. We now want to expand this and encourage Algeria to produce more green hydrogen in the future,” said Vice-Chancellor Robert Habeck (Greens) on Thursday (8 February).

By 2030, the German government estimates a hydrogen import demand of between 45 and 90 TWh annually. Slightly less than half of projected domestic production – lagging behind build-out targets – meaning that imports could play a more significant role than predicted.

Much climate-friendly gas could come through the well-established natural gas pipeline network connecting Tunisia, a North African country, to the European mainland. 

Like Italy’s Snam, its owners hope to switch to hydrogen eventually – the project is alternatively called SoutH2 or “Southern Hydrogen Corridor.” Berlin and Rome have promised political backing for the project.

Algeria and Germany want to set up a joint task force to ensure that there’s hydrogen to flow. Algeria, for its part, hopes to supply 10% of EU hydrogen demand by 2040.

“The task now is to create the necessary technical and economic conditions for hydrogen supplies between Algeria and Europe,” said Habeck, who’d visited the country with a business delegation.

First, gas

While even partial hydrogen transport to Europe – where natural gas is “blended” with hydrogen to boost its green credentials – remains far-off, German companies have begun entering into deals with the Algerian energy sector. 

VNG, the second-biggest gas wholesaler in Eastern Europe, became the first German energy company to acquire Algerian gas, striking a deal with state company Sonatrach on 8 February.

The “historic contract” served to strengthen Sonatrach’s “energy partnership with Europe” and “marks the start of deliveries of natural gas to Germany,” the company’s CEO, Rachid Hachichi, said in a statement.

Contract duration or agreed volumes were not disclosed by the companies.

VNG’s CEO Ulf Heitmüller called it a “medium-term gas supply contract” in the Sonatrach statement, adding that his company hoped to import hydrogen in the future.

[Edited by Alice Taylor]

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