Multidimensional Energy Discourses in the European Cross-Border Region SaarLorLux – Hydrogen as a Common Element ?

Despite various EU initiatives, energy supply in Europe is still very much a domain of the nation state. This is clearly evident in the border region SaarLorLux (France, Germany, and Luxembourg), where energy policies sometimes clash, as in the case of nuclear power, but in other respects give rise to increasingly coordinated cross-border initiatives, as is the case with hydrogen. Hydrogen produced with renewable energies has the advantage of being considered climate- neutral and hence makes a significant contribution to the achievement of climate targets. Nevertheless, in the border region views differ as to what energy sources should be used to produce hydrogen and what must be taken into account in the development of a joint cross-border hydrogen market. While France is open to producing hydrogen from nuclear energy, Germany and Luxembourg envisage production more from renewable energies. Furthermore the steel industry is a major driving force in promoting the production and transportation of hydrogen. This is regarded as indispensable for a future climate-neutral steel industry. As an aspect of border region research, the article analyzes the extent to which hydrogen can serve as a linking element in the border region and what overarching patterns emerge with regard to hydrogen strategies. The basis for the investigation is a media analysis of three regional daily newspapers (Républicain Lorrain, Saarbrücker Zeitung and Luxemburger Wort), together with a focus group discussion with stakeholders of the cross-border hydrogen interest group Grande Region Hydrogen. The key findings are that hydrogen can serve as a connecting factor in the SaarLorLux region. In contrast to nuclear energy, which remains controversial, the hydrogen sector reveals increasing interrelationships and interdependencies, both within and beyond the border region, due to the widespread desire to be connected to the European Hydrogen Backbone. The SaarLorLux hydrogen project highlights a specific characteristic of borderlands, namely that they are – more than other areas – subject to constant change. The region has in recent decades developed from a contact zone into an area of multiple interdependencies, and these could, with the prospect of a change of perspective by the Saarland state government on the production of hydrogen from nuclear-sourced electricity, enter a new dimension.