Infener AG has joined the H2ercules Initiative. Through this commitment, Infener brings the perspective of decentralised green hydrogen production into the development of a robust hydrogen infrastructure in Germany, strengthening the alignment between production, storage, and transport.
The H2ercules Initiative was founded in 2022 by OGE and RWE to advance the development of a high-performance hydrogen economy in Germany. It now brings together more than 30 partners across the entire value chain, ranging from hydrogen production, import and storage to industrial offtakers. The initiative aims to accelerate the expansion of hydrogen infrastructure and to lay the foundations for a European hydrogen market. In this context, H2ercules is designed to connect electrolysers as well as storage and import capacities in northern Germany with industrial demand centres in the west and south. Additional import routes from southern and eastern regions are planned to be connected by 2030, enabling H2ercules to form the backbone of a hydrogen infrastructure stretching from the North Sea coast to southern Germany.
Infener develops and delivers decentralised hydrogen hubs that locally convert surplus renewable electricity from wind and solar into green hydrogen. From Infener’s perspective, the close integration of such decentralised production sites with supra-regional transport networks is critical for market ramp-up. Available electricity grid capacity is limited and grid expansion often takes many years. As a result, electrolysis projects tend to be developed where grid capacity already exists, frequently without sufficient local demand within an economically viable trailer distance.
“This is precisely where connection to a transmission pipeline becomes a strategic lever,” said Joel Vogl, CEO and Co-Founder of Infener AG. “Taken together, decentralised electrolysis hubs can reach substantial production volumes. If they are systematically considered in pipeline and network planning and if injection points are created beyond centralised large-scale producers, sites without immediate local demand can become economically viable and, at the same time, system-relevant.”
By joining the H2ercules Initiative, Infener aims to bring this perspective into infrastructure and system discussions at an early stage. Together with the initiative’s partners, Infener seeks to accelerate the build-out of hydrogen infrastructure and contribute to the emergence of an integrated European hydrogen market.