Regional Capabilities for Green Hydrogen: Insights from Northern and Western Germany

Jessica Birkholz, Susanna Bolz, Björn Jindra and Philip Kerner

No 2505, Bremen Papers on Economics & Innovation from University of Bremen, Faculty of Business Studies and Economics

Abstract: Green hydrogen can play a major role in future net-zero energy systems. This paper investigates how existing technological and production capabilities can support the emergence and growth of green hydrogen value chains in Northern and Western Germany. Drawing on evolutionary economic geography, we argue that the development of the hydrogen value chain depends on the relatedness between existing knowledge bases and hydrogen technologies, and further recombinant capabilities, as well as the processes involved in acquiring capabilities. Our analysis focuses on seven NUTS 2 regions with favorable conditions for the development of hydrogen hubs, which are low cost of renewable energy production, access to hydrogen infrastructure, and political support for the hydrogen economy. We comparatively examine the regional capabilities using patent data to map technological innovation, firm-level data to identify key corporate actors, and regionalized export statistics to assess production capabilities. Based on our findings, we argue that the development of green hydrogen hubs might be facilitated by alignment between a region’s existing innovation capabilities, production capabilities, and hub specialization, with place-based policy approaches tailored towards each region’s unique profile.

Keywords: Green hydrogen; Value chains; Regional capabilities (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q42 Q55 R11 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 45 pages
Date: 2025-09
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-ene, nep-env, nep-geo, nep-sbm and nep-tid
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:atv:wpaper:2505

DOI: 10.26092/elib/4445

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