from pv magazine Germany

ARGE Netz, MAN Energy Solutions, and Vattenfall announced a plan on Thursday to set up a large-scale power-to-gas project in an industrial park in Brunsbüttel, northern Germany. The facility will produce green hydrogen and synthetic gases (SNG) from electricity generated by nearby solar and wind plants.

It is expected that the green hydrogen will contribute to cross-sectoral decarbonization. It could be used as fuel for buses or ships, as well as in gas power plants and other industrial sectors.

The aim of the partnership is to establish a unique power-to-gas hub for cross-sectoral decarbonization in northern Germany, Vattenfall said in a statement. The partner companies have also applied for funding from the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy to build a related R&D laboratory.

The decision to build the project in the Brunsbüttel Industrial Park was made deliberately. And it will likely secure and expand the technological leadership of the German region of Schleswig-Holstein in the power-to-gas sector, said Stephan Frense, managing director of ARGE Netz. The location is also ideal because large volumes of renewable energy are readily available.

The aim is to increase the use of renewable energy and reduce CO2 emissions in a range of sectors with green hydrogen. “The project is a central building block for a holistic energy transition and at the same time lays the foundation for the power-to-gas hub in northern Germany,” said Frense.

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The consortium has already secured a number of well-known customers, such as the Volkswagen Group, various logistics firms, municipal utilities and other local companies.

“We also link an industrial policy claim to the innovation project. Germany must strengthen its technological leadership in power-to-gas and the export of innovative climate technology,” said Uwe Lauber, CEO of MAN Energy Solutions. “While the hydrogen in the region is to be used, we want to feed the SNG into the German natural gas grid and thus make it available throughout Germany.”

Lauber also noted plans under the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy to build an LNG terminal in Brunsbüttel.

According to Oliver Weinmann, managing director of Vattenfall Europe Innovation GmbH, “the technology is ready for use and the companies want to invest in the green energy future.” He said that an electrolyzer for the production of green hydrogen with at least 50 MW of capacity will be built at the industrial park, as well as facilities for the production of synthetic methane, with a capacity of at least 40 tonnes per day.

In Rotterdam, the Gigawatt Elektrolysefabriek project was also recently launched. The researchers from that project aim to start generating green hydrogen at the the gigawatt scale from 2025.