The hydrogen ramp-up in Saarland continues to gain momentum, also with an impact on the training and skilled labor market. In order to give vocational school students in Saarland the opportunity to engage with hydrogen technology at an early stage and gain practical access to it, a total of 102 hydrogen kits are now being procured for 18 vocational schools in Saarland. In addition, each school will receive a fuel cell model car. In mid-November 2025, Minister of Economic Affairs Jürgen Barke, together with Minister of Education Christine Streichert-Clivot and Dr. Bettina Hübschen, Managing Director of Saarländische Wasserstoffagentur GmbH, presented the first ten hydrogen kits and a fuel cell model car to the Technical and Vocational Training Center 1 in Saarbrücken.

Teaching core competencies in hydrogen technology

Minister of Economic Affairs Jürgen Barke: "The ramp-up of the hydrogen economy holds enormous potential for our energy and industrial location. To achieve this, we need well-trained specialists. With the help of the learning kits, we want to integrate core competencies in hydrogen technology into dual training at vocational schools. In order to establish Saarland as a leading region for hydrogen in the future, we must invest in our next generation of skilled workers today. With the hydrogen learning kits, we are making an important contribution to this."

Making complex processes understandable

Education Minister Christine Streichert-Clivot: "The hydrogen kits enable students to experience first-hand how hydrogen can be produced, stored, and used. They make complex physical and chemical processes visible and understandable – and they show how exciting technology, research, and sustainability can be when you are allowed to explore and try them out for yourself. The transition to a climate-neutral and technologically innovative industry is also changing vocational education. With the hydrogen kits, we are bringing future technologies directly into the classroom and empowering young people to help shape this change – as well-trained specialists and as responsible designers of our shared future."

Getting young people on board

Dr. Bettina Hübschen, Managing Director of Saarländische Wasserstoffagentur GmbH: "The Saarland Hydrogen Agency supports citizens and companies in recognizing and implementing the positive effects of sustainable hydrogen technologies. The ‘Saarland Hydrogen Strategy 2025-2032’ includes strengthening children's and young people's knowledge of hydrogen technologies as an explicit goal. I am glad that we are getting a step closer to this goal by providing hydrogen learning kits and fuel cell model cars."

Skilled workers for tomorrow

Wolfgang Klein, principal of TGBBZ 1 Saarbrücken: "The transformation process in industry is continuing, and School 4.0 must train the skilled workers of tomorrow. Hydrogen plays a decisive role in this as a renewable energy source. Our task as a vocational school is to support projects of our dual partners (such as the production of green steel). We want to give students a theoretical and practical understanding so that they can think and help shape the transformation process and the concept of sustainability. The hydrogen kits in schools are an ideal complement to existing renewable energy conversion processes. They allow the production processes of green energy to be demonstrated in a practical way and their use to be clearly illustrated using the example of a fuel cell car."

Awakening interest in careers in the industry of the future

Both the hydrogen learning kits and the model cars illustrate how solar energy is used to produce hydrogen, which can then be converted into electrical energy. The practical and experimental use of the materials in the classroom or as part of career guidance is intended not only to build up students' skills in hydrogen technology, but also to spark their interest in careers in this future-oriented industry.

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