For Greater Resilience in the Energy System: Energy Associations Call for Accelerating the Power Plant Strategy, Ensuring Technology Neutrality, and a Pragmatic Building Energy Act (GEG)

• Accelerate the power plant strategy: Associations are pushing for swift tenders for new controllable capacity. Conditions for H₂-ready gas-fired power plants and other flexible installations must support the market ramp-up of hydrogen and provide investment certainty.
• Strengthen renewable and low-carbon gases: To realise one of the key decarbonisation options for industry, cost burdens must be reduced and genuine technology neutrality established.
• Adapt the Building Energy Act (GEG): Current regulations hinder the use of new gases. Pragmatic rules are needed that keep the door open for hydrogen and biomethane.

Berlin, 26 November 2025. The energy associations BDEW (German Association of Energy and Water Industries), DVGW (German Technical and Scientific Association for Gas and Water), and Die Gas- und Wasserstoffwirtschaft are calling for clear market signals and a reliable regulatory framework for hydrogen, its derivatives, and biomethane as part of their joint project Transformationspfad Neue Gase (Transformation Path for New Gases). Hydrogen and biomethane strengthen the resilience of the energy system and enable innovation and competitiveness for Germany’s economy. The three proposed measures are urgent short-term impulses needed to get energy and climate policy back on track.

Renewable and low-carbon gases such as hydrogen and biomethane are indispensable for ensuring that the transformation of the German economy remains competitive and climate-neutral, and that energy supply remains secure in the future. This is also confirmed by the latest monitoring report of the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs: molecule-based solutions are not only essential for key industrial applications, but also help limit the overall economic costs of the energy transition. According to the energy associations, three core demands must therefore be met swiftly: accelerating the power plant strategy, strengthening renewable and low-carbon gases, and introducing pragmatic adjustments to the Building Energy Act.

“There is broad scientific and economic consensus that new gases will play a central role in a resilient energy system of the future,” explains Dr. Kirsten Westphal, Member of the Executive Board at BDEW. “The foundation has already been laid with the existing gas grid, the hydrogen core network under development, and planned hydrogen storage facilities. H₂-ready power plants and CHP units will step in when wind and solar cannot deliver. We now need rapid tenders for these plants and government instruments such as a capacity market to ensure investment can take place.”

The current security-of-supply report by the Federal Network Agency also confirms the need for controllable power plant capacity to safeguard security of supply in the medium and long term. H₂-ready power plants also create anchor customers for the hydrogen core network: they ensure that infrastructure, production, and demand grow in parallel.

New gases are indispensable not only for a resilient energy supply but also for maintaining a competitive economy. “Affordable energy is a prerequisite for growth, prosperity, and securing jobs. New gases offer a cost-efficient option for decarbonising industry and SMEs,” emphasises Prof. Dr. Gerald Linke, Chairman of the Board of DVGW. “For the market to develop along the entire value chain, regulatory barriers must be removed. Recognising low-carbon blue and turquoise hydrogen as permissible energy carriers is crucial to accelerating the scaling of volumes.”

At the same time, regulatory burdens must be reduced to lower hydrogen production costs, strengthen demand in a targeted manner, and improve competitiveness. In particular, the electricity sourcing criteria in the delegated acts and the removal of grid fee exemptions for electrolysers are currently major obstacles.

Dr. Timm Kehler, Chairman of the Board of the association Die Gas- und Wasserstoffwirtschaft, also sees the Building Energy Act as a brake on the transformation: “The GEG, with its rigid hydrogen roadmaps, unnecessarily restricts the development of distribution grids and the heating transition. We need simple, market-driven rules without rigid specifications so that hydrogen and biomethane can be used in the building sector. New gases are the key to a competitive energy transition — policymakers and the EU must act now.”

The associations highlight the potential of biomethane, hydrogen, and their derivatives and their system-supporting functions. New gases can secure basic material supply for industry, stabilise the electricity grid through flexible H₂-ready power plants, store energy, and link the electricity, heat, and transport sectors. In the form of biomethane and hydrogen, new gases are already making a proven contribution to CO₂ reduction and strengthening domestic value creation.

At the event “More Resilience, More Market — New Gases as Drivers of a Strong Economy” on 26 November 2025 in Berlin, held as part of the Transformation Path for New Gases, BDEW, DVGW, and Die Gas- und Wasserstoffwirtschaft reaffirm their joint commitment to actively shaping the transformation of the energy supply — for a resilient and climate-neutral industrial location in Germany, built on new gases and renewable electricity.