German Federal Minister of Economics Peter Altmaier and Federal Minister of Research Anja Karliczek, together with their Australian counterpart, Energy Minister Angus Taylor, have signed a letter of intent to establish a “Germany Australia Hydrogen Accord” to facilitate a green hydrogen supply chain between the countries.

Germany is looking to the partnership as a means of enabling the import of sustainably produced hydrogen in relevant quantities.

The accord is to be embedded in the work of the already existing German-Australian energy partnership, with a focus on hydrogen. Australia is ready to provide substantial financial support for this collaboration. German companies are very interested in participating in hydrogen projects in Australia, including as suppliers of electrolyzers.

The accord provides for three different initiatives:

HyGate. Co-financing of an AUS-DEU H2 incubator for applied research. Germany’s contribution: €50 million. The aim of the incubator is to develop and improve hydrogen technologies and to test them in real conditions as a preliminary stage for subsequent scaling.

Co-financing of “HydrogenHubs”. Production of H2 on an industrial scale in Australia using German technology. Co-financed as part of the planned German funding guidelines for international H2 projects and Australian funding for hydrogen hubs. Australia has already approved a funding program for Hydrogen Hubs amounting to A$275 million (€175 million). Part of this money is to be used primarily for hubs that use German technology. In addition, a Germany-Australia Industry Group is to be used to identify projects along the value chain that are suitable for such co-financing and cooperation.

Cooperation on H2-Handel. Co-financing of an auction within the framework of H2-Global, which is regionally limited to Australia. Australia is ready to support an auction by H2-Global with approximately €50 million, with H2 (or derivative) produced in Australia to be delivered to Germany.