The Bund der Wasserstoffregionen (BdWR – National Hydrogen Regions Association) got off to a successful start on 24 October 2023 with its first plenary meeting. The event brought together 19 hydrogen regions from all over Germany together with the organisations NOW, VKU and DVGW to discuss the most pressing issues in the context of the regional hydrogen economy.
The focus of the first BdWR plenary session was the structured exchange of experiences regarding the main challenges in the implementation of regional hydrogen concepts. The discussions revolved around two main aspects:
- Identification of existing solutions: The participating regions actively shared their insights and experiences in order to highlight proven approaches and learn from progress already made. This step aims to help propagate good practices and foster synergies between regions.
- Identifying common challenges: A key area of focus was on the identification of the main common challenges faced by the hydrogen regions. This involved pinpointing core problems and obstacles that are common to the regions and therefore require joint efforts.
Speakers of the BdWR elected
Also on the agenda of the first plenary session was the election of the spokesperson and deputies of the association. The district administrator of the Vorpommern-Rügen district, Dr. Stefan Kerth, was unanimously elected as the association’s first spokesperson. The elected deputies were the district administrators Jürgen Müller (Herford district) and Bernd Lütjen (Osterholz district).
Dr. Stefan Kerth: “Hydrogen offers regions the chance to create their own, plannable value chains through decentralised energy production. In this way, dependencies can ultimately be reduced and local companies can be offered sustainable options in the spirit of regional development. The National Hydrogen Regions Association should be there to enable municipal stakeholders, in cooperation with professional associations, to establish a decisive link to federal policy. As the newly elected spokesperson, my goal is to ensure that the concerns and insights of our members, who are responsible for implementing the national expansion targets in concrete projects, are addressed.”
Further roadmap
The next step will be to establish internal working groups in which selected technical experts will deal intensively with the identified topics. This will enable the challenges to be analysed in detail and specific approaches to solutions to be developed in order to drive the implementation of regional hydrogen concepts forward.
About the BdWR
The establishment of the Bund der Wasserstoffregionen (BdWR – National Hydrogen Regions Association) is intended to address the situation that the regional perspective of a hydrogen economy has not yet been sufficiently taken into account at the federal level. With the BdWR, regional stakeholders are to be given a concentrated voice at the federal political level. It is composed of political representatives of German hydrogen regions, the VKU and DVGW associations and is coordinated by NOW GmbH.
Image: © Franz Josef, Berlin