The goal of the H2Market Index is to measure stakeholders’ perceptions of the current development of the hydrogen market. The H2Market Index has a value of 42 in 2023, indicating that stakeholders currently assess the market ramp-up as almost neutral with a slight negative tendency. The index comprises four topic areas: innovation environ-ment, political and regulatory framework, infrastructure expansion, and market devel-opment.
For the creation of the H2Market Index, the Institute of Energy Economics at the Uni-versity of Cologne (EWI) conducted an online survey from June to July 2023 among market actors in the hydrogen industry in Germany. More than 370 individuals from various sectors of the hydrogen market participated in the questionnaire. The survey was commissioned by Deutscher Verein des Gas- und Wasserfaches (DVGW).
The H2Market Index value of 42 indicates that market actors currently perceive the hydrogen market ramp-up as almost neutral with a slight negative tendency. Within the topic areas, there are noticeable differences, as illustrated in Figure 1. While the inno-vation environment and market development are considered almost neutral, the as-sessment of infrastructure development stands out with a rather negative perception among market actors, indicating a higher need for action.
The four topic areas of the questionnaire contribute 25 percent each to the H2Market Index. To calculate the index, the survey’s qualitative responses from negative to neu-tral to positive are translated into a quantitative scale from 0 (negative) to 100 (posi-tive). The closer the value is to 100, the more positively market actors evaluate the corresponding topic area.
Of the surveyed individuals, 84 percent consider the importance of hydrogen to be high or very high. Simultaneously, a wide range of challenges is evident. The current politi-cal framework is seen as the most significant challenge (43 percent), followed by the ramp-up of supply and demand (25 percent) and infrastructure development (24 per-cent).
Additional results show that the assessment of the hydrogen market ramp-up varies significantly among stakeholders. Energy supply companies, distribution network opera-tors, and the industrial sector tend to have a negative view, while transmission network operators and research institutions tend to have a positive assessment.
