Munich (dpa / lby) – The “economic wise” Veronika Grimm advocates a rapid development of the hydrogen economy in Bavaria. The southern German federal states must actively participate in the debate, the economist from the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg told the “Süddeutsche Zeitung” (Saturday) in Munich. “Building pipelines takes time. Although Bavaria cannot do it alone, it can always push for it. Local companies can only invest in converting their production to hydrogen if they know when and how much hydrogen can be available.”
Grimm recently accompanied the Bavarian Economics Minister Hubert Aiwanger (free voters) to talks in the potential hydrogen export countries Scotland and Norway as head of the Bayern Hydrogen Center. “Norway and Scotland are very interesting for Bavaria’s hydrogen future,” Grimm told the newspaper. The trip showed that they were mainly waiting for binding agreements on purchase quantities. “Ultimately, this is the prerequisite for obtaining the financing for the systems and infrastructure in order to then start large-scale hydrogen production.”
Grimm also criticized Bavaria’s fundamental adherence to the minimum distance rule for wind turbines. “The state government can’t keep it up like this. Blocking the expansion of renewable energies and the grid expansion at the same time was not a masterpiece.” The state government had recently relaxed the so-called 10H rule with exceptions, for example in commercial and industrial areas.
