LNG

Michael Lewis, CEO of Germany’s largest gas importer Uniper, welcomes plans by U.S. President Trump to expand oil & gas production as well as LNG exports. He urged German industry to use more ‘blue hydrogen,’ made via steam methane reforming, into their energy transitions plans, rather than focussing solely on ‘green hydrogen,' derived from renewable energy.

2025 will see hydrogen gain traction as an alternative – potentially rival – fuel to LNG as the U.S. will become the leader in blue hydrogen production, while electrolysers made-in-China drive competition and spur investments in ammonia. Addressing the mismatch between FIDs and offtake contracts will, however, be crucial to scaling hydrogen for power generation and as a fuel for shipping.

German energy company Uniper has postponed its target to invest €8 billion in the green energy transformation by 2030, citing a lack of demand for green hydrogen, CEO Michael Lewis told business daily FAZ. “As things stand, there are hardly any major customers who buy green hydrogen,” he said, noting Uniper has to “step on the brakes a little.”

Uniper now wants to reach its targeted investment volume “by the early 2030s” and focus on project “that make the greatest contribution from a strategic and financial perspective.” The Germain utility reiterated its aim to exit coal by 2029, though reaching its target of 80% renewables would become “very difficult,” Lewis conceded.

The British boss of the energy group Uniper urged the German government to introduce a lasting system of incentive for a certain volume of green hydrogen – alike the renewable support system. “There is a large gap between the price of natural gas and that of blue or even green hydrogen,” Lewis said, suggesting; “The state would have to agree to close this gap.”

The German coalition government aspires for hydrogen, especially the one produced via electrolysis from wind and solar power, to play a vital role in decarbonising the steel-making sector or the chemical industry as well as the transport sector. But hurdles for implementing and scaling up the technology are manifold, both from a technological and cost perspective.

The cost for storage and distribution may well make green hydrogen a “prohibitively expensive abatement strategy across many major sectors,” researchers from Harvard University warned. Listening to such warnings, Uniper revised its hydrogen strategy and other energy companies eye similar steps to slow down their exposure to a still expensive new fuel type.