Green hydrogen from Ukraine?
In the German daily “Tagesspiegel” from June 10th, Dr. Georg Zachmann and Lukas Feldhaus assess and comment on the German government’s plans to import green hydrogen from Ukraine.
Hereby, the authors are sceptical about the plans in their current form. Ukraine could not produce the amount of green electricity needed for green hydrogen production with its current outdated power plant infrastructure. To change this, enormous investments in a new energy infrastructure would be necessary, which, however, are unrealistic due to political risks and a non-functioning energy market. In addition, Ukraine will need a considerable amount of the hydrogen produced to supply its own steel industry, which is an important sector of the economy. The structural conditions on the Ukrainian electricity market were not hopeful either.
Instead of investing unsustainably in individual projects, Germany should support Ukraine in a far-reaching reform of the electricity market, Zachmann and Feldhaus conlude.