Rhine-Alpine News
03.07.2024
Germany to invest in Hydrogen Infrastructure
Symbolic picture by Akitada31on Pixabay
Germany will receive billions of euros in hydrogen infrastructure subsidies from the EU Commission.
By 2032, Germany will have a 9,700-kilometre core network and the EU Commission will allow it to invest three billion euros in hydrogen infrastructure. The competition authorities say the subsidy scheme supports the EU hydrogen policy and « Fit for 55 » climate protection package.
The hydrogen core network will support Germany’s long-distance hydrogen pipeline network and the European hydrogen backbone.The Brussels authority said the subsidies will help create pipelines to expand industry and transport use of climate-friendly hydrogen. According to them, the benefits of subsidies outweigh the risks of competition distortions. Rigorous EU laws are to prevents state-induced competitiveness distortions. In April, the German parliament approved state guarantees for hydrogen core network finance, allowing enterprises to access preferential loans. This could offset initial project losses. .
Green hydrogen—produced mostly from wind and solar power—will be crucial in the future. The goal is to replace diesel for vehicles and coal for blast furnaces. From 2025, the first major pipeline will connect industry, power plants, harbours, and storage facilities. Transmission system operators (TSOs) estimate expenses at little about 20 billion euros. User payments will fund the core network.
About 60% of natural gas pipelines can be reused, while the rest must be built. Long-term, Federal Minister for Economic Affairs Robert Habeck (Greens) expects Germany to produce 30–50% of its hydrogen. The remaining quantities must be imported via pipelines or ship as ammonia, such as from North Africa to southern Italy to southern Germany.
The full article in German can be accessed here.
Unlocking the Potential of Rail Freight, Innovations and Challenges
Picture by Erwin van der Linden
Thank You for Participating in the Rhine-Alpine Talk #17!
We are delighted by the engagement and insightful discussions from our recent session on unlocking the potential of rail freight innovations and challenges, organized together with the team from the Horizon Europe funded MultiRELOAD innovation project. The presentations covered a wide range of topics, including the strategic importance of smart multimodal logistics, the transformative potential of digital twins for transport chain efficiency, and innovative solutions like CargoBeamer’s CBoXX rail freight container. These discussions underscored the critical role of regional regulatory frameworks in fostering innovation and optimizing multimodal transport networks.
We would like to thank the speakers, listed below for their time and excellent presentations.
Ton Neumann, Programme Manager Logistics at the Province of Limburg
Jan-Christoph Maass, Sr. Project Manager Research and Innovation at the Port of Duisburg and project coordinator of the MultiRELOAD project
José Antonio Clemente Pérez, Tech Lead at Prodevelop
Dr. Dmitrij Simin, R&D Manager at CargoBeamer
Gaëlle Bonjour, Legal Researcher at Institut du Droit International des Transports (IDIT)
To ensure you can revisit these valuable insights and continue the conversation, we have made the presentations available online. Thank you once again for your participation and contributions. We look forward to seeing you at our future events!
The presentations can be downloaded below in order of appearance during the event.
This meeting was the first in a series of three Regulatory Advisory Board sessions within the MultiRELOAD project. The aim is to optimize the conditions in which the project’s innovative multimodal solutions can flourish. For more information about this Horizon Europe project, visit https://multireload.eu
The MultiRELOAD project receives funding under the Horizon Europe Call “Safe, Resilient Transport and Smart Mobility services for passengers and goods” Call ID: HORIZON-CL5-2021-D6-01, Grant ID: 101069796
RIS-week recap
Symbolic picture by Patricksommer on Pixabay
The RIS-week was held in Basel last week (June 24-28). Over 90 people from 14 different countries attended the event.
The RIS expert groups have begun debating the subjects to be addressed in the upcoming edition of the European Standard for River Information Services (ES-RIS 2025), which is now being adopted by the CESNI. These subjects are specifically related to the increasing digitization of navigation.