The German Federal Audit Office (Bundesrechnungshof) has dismantled the government’s hydrogen strategy. Neither on the supply side nor on the demand side do the results even remotely align with the ambitious political targets. Germany faces yet another subsidy ruin.
Berlin is in a state of hangover. The ongoing economic crisis is mercilessly exposing the delusions of the so-called green transformation. After the collapse of battery production – think of subsidy ruins like Northvolt – the retreat of industry from “green steel,” and the failure of the energy transition under the weight of wind and solar, which have become bottomless subsidy pits, the next major project is now under heavy attack: the hydrogen strategy.
Audit Office Steps Out of the Shadows
In a recent report, the Federal Audit Office examined the German hydrogen economy – political art at its finest. Since 2020, the sector has been flooded with subsidies. For 2024 and 2025 alone, more than €7 billion in funding has been allocated. Plenty of lubricant for an engine that has been sputtering from day one and still refuses to start.
Private investors, enticed by guarantees and state-backed prices, add more than €3 billion annually. And what’s the result after five years of constant funding? Devastating. Current production of green hydrogen stands at a mere 0.16 gigawatts. Another 0.2 gigawatts are under construction.
In other words: a market that practically doesn’t exist is already consuming around €8 billion every year—public and private – like a black hole.
Germany’s Hydrogen Dream Becomes A $9 Billion Yearly Black Hole
American Buddhist Net 