Germany must speed hydrogen plans this year - gas pipeline group OGE

FRANKFURT/DUESSELDORF (Reuters) - Germany must rev up the speed of a hydrogen law revision, which is pending in Berlin, to allow for related investments in gas transport networks up to the end of the decade, said the head of the biggest gas pipeline operator, Open Grid Europe (OGE).

"I would like the revision of the hydrogen strategy update to be completed in the first quarter of 2023," said OGE chief Joerg Bergmann in an interview with Reuters during his appearance at the annual Handelsblatt Energy Summit 2023.

"Investment decisions have to be taken now, ideally by the summer, because adjusting and expanding pipelines to carry hydrogen needs between around three and six years," he said.

(Reporting by Vera Eckert and Tom Kaeckenhoff, editing by Rachel More)