Germany, Austria, and Switzerland share a language, a deeply integrated industrial base, and a border region that functions as one of Europe's most important economic corridors. But their hydrogen strategies are remarkably different — and understanding those differences at the project level is essential for anyone operating in the region.
Germany: scale ambitions, execution challenges
Germany's national hydrogen strategy positions the country as both a major consumer and importer of hydrogen. The ambition is clear: 10 GW of domestic electrolyzer capacity by 2030, extensive import infrastructure, and hydrogen deployment across steel, chemicals, and heavy transport.
The project pipeline reflects this ambition. Germany has one of the largest announced hydrogen project portfolios in Europe, spanning production, transport (including a growing backbone pipeline network), storage (with salt cavern projects in northern Germany), and industrial end-use.
But the gap between announcement and execution is particularly visible in German data. Permitting timelines, grid connection delays, and the complexity of coordinating federal and state-level regulations mean that many announced projects have not yet progressed to construction. Our tracking shows that the ratio of FID-stage to announced projects in Germany is lower than in several smaller European markets where regulatory pathways are clearer.
For equipment suppliers and project developers, this means the German market offers enormous long-term potential but requires careful project-level analysis to identify which opportunities are moving and which are stalled.
Austria: industrial demand as the anchor
Austria's hydrogen approach is more focused: leverage existing industrial demand as the anchor for early hydrogen deployment, then expand from there. The country's steel and chemical sectors — concentrated in Upper Austria and Styria — provide immediate, large-scale demand for low-carbon hydrogen.
Voestalpine's investigations into hydrogen-based steelmaking are among the most advanced in Europe. The hydrogen valley initiatives in Upper Austria and the Linz industrial corridor create natural clusters where production, transport, and consumption can develop in close proximity.
Austria has also secured public funding for hydrogen infrastructure — including recent commitments under the Hydrogen Promotion Act for electrolyzer projects in Bruck an der Leitha, Styria, and Salzburg. Our data shows that Austrian projects, while smaller in scale than German counterparts, tend to have clearer paths to execution because they're anchored to specific industrial buyers.
For companies looking for near-term hydrogen deployment opportunities in the DACH region, Austria's industrial clusters are worth close attention.
Switzerland: niche but strategic
Switzerland's hydrogen market is smaller but strategically significant. The country's Hydrospider model — using hydropower-based electrolysis to supply hydrogen for fuel cell trucks — has been one of Europe's most cited examples of a functioning hydrogen value chain.
The Swiss market is constrained by its size but benefits from strong policy support, high electricity prices that make green hydrogen competitive with diesel in certain applications, and a logistics sector that's actively adopting hydrogen for heavy transport.
For technology suppliers and logistics companies, Switzerland represents a proven reference market — small in volume but high in credibility.
The cross-border dimension
What makes the DACH region particularly interesting is the cross-border infrastructure. Germany's planned hydrogen backbone pipeline network will need to connect to Austrian and potentially Swiss infrastructure. Cross-border hydrogen corridors are under discussion but face complex regulatory coordination across three national frameworks.
Our data tracks these cross-border projects as connected entities — a German pipeline that terminates at the Austrian border links to the Austrian pipeline that continues to an industrial consumer in Linz. This connected view is essential for understanding whether the region's hydrogen infrastructure will function as a system or remain a collection of national projects.
What we track
Across the DACH region, our knowledge graph covers hydrogen production projects, transport infrastructure, storage facilities, and end-use applications — all linked to the companies, policy frameworks, and timelines that determine whether they'll be built. We also track the electrolyzer supply chain, with DACH-based manufacturers playing significant roles in European and global markets.
If you're operating in the DACH hydrogen market — as a developer, equipment supplier, investor, or policy maker — the project-level data is what separates strategic insight from headline noise.