Thread by @maxcordiez

How to say that you intend to build 20 GW of fossil gas-fired power stations without saying that you intend to build 20 GW of fossil gas-fired power stations?

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hydrogeninsight.com/power/germany-…

All you have to do is announce that they are "H2 ready", i.e. that they will be able to burn #hydrogen in a future that is not your responsibility but that of your successors.

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Of course, if these plants continue to burn fossil gas in 10-20 years, your successors will be the ones to blame, because they won't have implemented all the necessary measures to switch to H2.

Anyway, you won't be in charge anymore so it won't be your problem.

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To give some elements of explanation, it is extremely unlikely that even in the medium term the gas power plants announced by German Chancellor @OlafScholz will burn #renewable (or even low-carbon) #hydrogen.

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Indeed, the yield of the process of producing electricity from hydrogen itself produced from electricity does not exceed about 30 percent (if we are optimistic).

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In addition to this 70% loss of electricity, one has to take into account the high cost of electrolysis and storage infrastructures (and for the latter, the demonstration of large-scale feasibility is still pending...).

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I'm not even talking about the problems arising from importing hydrogen from distant countries – which Germany relies on massively. Such imports require additional costly infrastructures and lead to additional energy losses.

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Nor am I talking about the highly carbon-intensive electricity mix of the countries from which Germany would like to import hydrogen (Morocco, Australia, etc.).

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In practice, those 20 GW of gas-fired power stations will burn fossil gas in the long run, provided that Germany has long-term access to cheap fossil gas.

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The invocation of their compatibility with hydrogen is mere rhetoric, a talking point intended to mask the frontal opposition between this announcement and Germany's climate objectives.

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