Auftaktveranstaltung des Norddeutschen Reallabors mit Förderbescheid-Übergabe

© BMWi/Andreas Mertens

In a virtual kick-off event, Federal Minister Peter Altmaier and representatives from the states of Hamburg, Schleswig-Holstein and Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania today launched the Northern Germany Regulatory Sandbox. The Northern Germany Regulatory Sandbox is one of the largest regulatory sandboxes for the energy transition funded by the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy. The goal of the regulatory sandboxes is to accelerate the process of translating research innovations into practical applications.

Federal Minister Peter Altmaier said: “As a climate-friendly source of energy, hydrogen is vital to the success of the energy transition. A total of €52 million is available for the Northern Germany Regulatory Sandbox. The aim is to use green hydrogen to integrate industry, transport and the supply of heat in a consistent manner, thus saving large amounts of carbon dioxide. In this way, we will mitigate climate change and strengthen the economy.”

The regulatory sandboxes for the energy transition are a funding instrument within the framework of the Federal Government’s Seventh Energy Research Programme. The funding provided by the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy is used to support companies and research institutions that are developing tangible solutions for the energy transition. The regulatory sandboxes enable experts to test innovative energy technologies under existing market conditions and on an industrial scale, thus helping to speed up the process from technological development to market penetration.

The project partners participating in the Northern Germany Regulatory Sandbox will seek solutions for a holistic development of the local energy system. With a focus on four geographical centres across Hamburg, Schleswig-Holstein and Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, they will develop integrated concepts for sector coupling with an emphasis on hydrogen and devise energy-efficient neighbourhood systems for the heating sector. The collaborative project includes participants from the private sector, government and science covering the entire energy value chain – including generation, transport, storage and consumption. Over a period of five years, the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy will provide funding totalling more than €52 million for the Northern Germany Regulatory Sandbox.

The lynchpin of the project will be ‘green’ hydrogen, i.e. hydrogen that is produced using renewable electricity for the electrolysis of water. In the industrial sector, hydrogen can help to avoid carbon emissions by replacing natural gas, for example. And in private households, too, hydrogen has the potential to become the fuel of the future. To this end, the Northern Germany Regulatory Sandbox is to explore the prospects of converting the gas distribution system to hydrogen. With a view to speeding up the energy transition in the heating sector, the project partners are also planning to use waste heat from a waste incineration plant and an industrial plant in order to feed it into an existing district heating pipeline. Taken together, these measures could make it possible to save more than 500,000 tonnes of carbon emissions per year.

The Northern Germany Regulatory Sandbox builds on the NEW 4.0 (Northern Germany Energy Transition 4.0) project and its demonstrators, infrastructure and systems expertise. NEW 4.0 was one of five showcase regions of the Economic Affairs Ministry’s SINTEG (Smart Energy Showcases – Digital Agenda for the Energy Transition) funding programme, which has recently been concluded.

For more information, please visit: www.energiesystem-forschung.de