The future demand for hydrogen in Germany could fall far short of the country's plans to expand the gas network for transporting the fuel.

This is according to a study published on Thursday, which was commissioned by a group of gas and water storage operators.

A cornerstone of the German government's hydrogen strategy is a 20 billion euro, 9700 kilometer long hydrogen core network. In the plans published by transmission system operator FNB Gas in November last year, hydrogen consumption was expected to reach 279 terawatt hours (TWh) per year by 2032.

However, a study presented on Thursday by the storage group INES and prepared by the energy consultancy Aurora assumes that hydrogen demand will only be between 73 and 123 TWh by 2030.

According to the Aurora study, border crossing points with imports of less than 10 gigawatt hours per hour (GWh/h) could be sufficient to meet this demand, compared to the 59 GWh/h envisaged in the FNB plan.

" The Aurora short analysis shows us how great the uncertainties in grid planning currently still are and how great the risk is that overcapacities will now be developed that may never be utilized, said Sebastian Heinermann, Director of INES, according to a press release.

INES members include the SEFE Group company Astora, VNG Gasspeicher, Uniper and RWE.

(Report by Vera Eckert, written by Esther Blank)

- by Vera Eckert