Sian Crampsie
A €17 million flagship project in Germany to produce hydrogen from renewable energy has started operations.
Located in Mainz, the energy park consists of a Siemens electrolysis system as well as systems for purifying, compressing, storing and distributing the hydrogen supplied by chemicals firm The Linde Group.
The project partners – which also include RheinMain University of Applied Sciences and Stadtwerke Mainz AG – hope that the project will demonstrate the potential for hydrogen to be used to store excess energy produced by renewable energy resources, as well as the potential for hydrogen to reduce emissions in the transport sector.
"Fuel-cell drive technology has advanced greatly and is now being launched to the market," explains Dr Wolfgang Büchele, CEO of The Linde Group. "If this technology is adopted on a wide enough scale, it has the potential to significantly reduce traffic-related environmental pollution. Today, most of the hydrogen that Linde supplies to filling stations is already ‘green’. Energiepark Mainz has the capacity to produce enough hydrogen for around 2000 fuel-cell cars."
Siemens’ PEM-based high-pressure electrolysis system is described as the "technological highlight" of the Mainz plant by The Linde Group. With a peak performance of 6 MW, it is the largest system of this kind in the world. "The energy systems of tomorrow will be much more complex, integrated and flexible than they are today. The PEM electrolyser is an important building block in the new energy mix," said Prof. Siegfried Russwurm, Siemens board member. "Hydrogen electrolysis is a great way to feed renewable energies in particular more efficiently into power grids.
"It can be used to dynamically capture, store and harness energy that is not currently needed. We have developed an innovative system at Energiepark Mainz that can help turn a vision into an industrial-scale reality."
The energy park is directly connected to the medium-voltage grid of Stadtwerke Mainz Netze GmbH. It is also linked to four neighbouring wind parks that belong to the Stadtwerke group. "Across the group, we are aware of the benefits – but also the drawbacks – of renewable energies. We know just how important it is to find further storage technologies for electricity," said SWM board members Detlev Höhne and Dr Tobias Brosze. "The ability to store surplus electrical energy decentrally during peak periods of wind power can help integrate renewable energies into the grid and keep the grid stable."
