Interesting facts about hydrogen
What is green hydrogen? How does electrolysis work? And what is the truth behind the hydrogen myths?
We are on the threshold of a new era in energy supply – a future with hydrogen. A secure supply requires strategic partnerships, new approaches to generation and a modern infrastructure. At EnBW, we are among the pioneers and drivers of the H₂ future: With our expertise and experience, we are helping to make the energy transition a reality.
BUSINESS SEGMENTS
How we are turning hydrogen into a success story
Building the hydrogen economy is a monumental task. We are tackling the transformation at all levels: from generation to transportation, storage and distribution. We have also set ourselves ambitious targets for our own power plants and plan to switch to hydrogen by 2035.
GENERATION
Sun and wind are turned into hydrogen
Wind and solar parks have to be switched off time and again whenever too much electricity is generated at the same time. Electrolyzers convert green electricity and water into hydrogen directly on site. In this way, energy can be stored during generation peaks and transported to where it is needed.
STORAGE AND TRANSPORT
Infrastructure for the H₂ economy
Large storage facilities in underground salt caverns are an important part of the hydrogen infrastructure. With their help, fluctuating energy demand can be reliably covered. The existing natural gas infrastructure is largely suitable for transportation. Today, we are already building new pipelines that are H₂-ready.
USE
Production, heating, transport
Green hydrogen can be used in many ways. In the future, it will be used to power airplanes, heat blast furnaces and serve as a raw material for industry. Test projects show: As a mixture of natural gas and hydrogen, it can already be used in households today.
PROJECTS
Our H₂ commitment at a glance
As an infrastructure provider, we have already launched many regional and local hydrogen projects and real-world laboratories, from offshore generation to H₂-ready gas power plants. In this way, we are actively shaping the development of the national hydrogen market.
Hydrogen trading – trading activities
To supply Germany with hydrogen, trade agreements are concluded with international partners for hydrogen deliveries, which are landed in Germany by ship.
Hydrogen generation - HyTech Port of Rostock
The Rostock EnergyPort Cooperation GmbH, which was founded together with our partners RWE, Rheinenergie and Rostock Port in July 2022, has set itself the goal of promoting the establishment and expansion of a sustainable green production and distribution structure for hydrogen. For this purpose, an electrolysis plant for the production of climate-neutral (green) hydrogen is to be built in the seaport of Rostock. The hydrogen produced will then be fed into a supra-regional distribution network but will be made available to local consumers as well.
- H₂ generation capacity: 100MW
Hydrogen generation - H2-Mare
Offshore wind turbines produce green electricity – so far, so good. In the future, offshore plants could possibly also produce green hydrogen and, in turn, other CO₂-free energy sources. EnBW is participating in the H₂Mare research project, which is investigating the potential of hydrogen production in marine wind farms.
Transmission network - Doing Hydrogen
With the Doing Hydrogen hub in eastern Germany, we are connecting projects from innovative producers, long-distance gas network operators and large consumers. The project, which we will implement together with our partners Enertrag, APEX, Vattenfall and Cemex, serves as a connecting element: We are creating comprehensive links between the economic regions of Central Germany and the Rostock region as well as the greater Berlin and Eisenhüttenstadt areas. Hydrogen projects in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, Brandenburg, Berlin, Saxony and Saxony-Anhalt are to be linked to form a high-performance hub.
- Network length: 616 km
- Further information
Green Octopus Central Germany (storage)
A cavern storage facility with a working gas volume of 50 million cubic metres stabilizes the hydrogen infrastructure and ensures a balance between supply and demand. With around 305 kilometers of pipelines, GO! will ensure the safe transport of hydrogen by 2027.
- Storage volume: 50 million m³
- Further information
Hydrogen generation - Bad Lauchstädt Energy Park
The Bad Lauchstädt Energy Park is a large-scale project for the intelligent generation of green hydrogen as well as its storage, transportation, marketing and use. Our subsidiaries VNG and Ontras, together with the consortium partners Terrawatt, Uniper and the DVGW, are testing the entire value chain of green hydrogen on an industrial scale for the first time. A large-scale electrolysis plant with a capacity of 30 MW produces green hydrogen using renewable electricity from a nearby wind park. Stored temporarily in a specially constructed salt cavern, the green hydrogen can be fed into the hydrogen network of the chemical industry based in central Germany via a converted gas pipeline and used for urban mobility solutions in the future.
- H₂ generation capacity: 30MW
- Further information
Transmission network - Green Octopus Central Germany (transport network)
The central German chemical triangle needs green hydrogen, as do the industries in Saxony-Anhalt and the steel region in Salzgitter in Lower Saxony. Green Octopus Central Germany (GO!) is the future transport route and storage option for this hydrogen: GO! connects the regions and integrates the future hydrogen storage facility in Bad Lauchstädt.
- Grid length: 305 km
- Further information: https://www.ontras.com/de/go
Transmission network
Several transmission network operators are planning a high-performance pipeline system for hydrogen from the Baltic Sea to Baden-Württemberg, thus opening up pipeline-based supply options for large quantities of hydrogen for industry. The first pipeline sections are to be converted from natural gas to hydrogen as early as 2025, thus reducing CO₂ emissions in the long term.
- Network length: 1,100 km
- Further information
Gas transport network – NET and SEL
Commissioned in 2022, the approximately 28-kilometer-long Neckarenztal pipeline, or NET for short, transports more than just natural gas. Thanks to special welding processes and the use of hydrogen-compatible steel, the terranets bw pipeline is also H2-ready. The EnBW subsidiary is also planning another hydrogen-compatible transport route in the form of the 250-kilometer South German Natural Gas Pipeline (SEL). It will be the first hydrogen pipeline in Baden-Württemberg with a connection to the European Hydrogen Backbone and will supply EnBW's gas-fired power plants with hydrogen by 2030.
RHYn Interco
The cross-border project of the EnBW subsidiary terranets bw, the distribution system operator badenovaNETZE and the French gas infrastructure operator GRTgaz aims to connect southern Germany to the French hydrogen network. By 2028, the construction of a new connecting pipeline to France and the conversion of existing gas pipelines will connect major customers near Freiburg. By converting a further section, the network could be extended to Offenburg by 2035.
Distribution network - Hydrogen Island Öhringen
Öhringen is getting ready for the future: Since November 2021, its own operating site has been supplied with a mixture of natural gas and hydrogen. The next step was to extend the supply to 22 surrounding residential buildings.
The name Hydrogen Island refers to the concept behind the project: In the town east of Heilbronn, part of the existing gas network is separated from the rest of the network like an island and gradually supplied with up to 30 percent hydrogen
- Blending ratio: 30%
- Further information
Hydrogen generation - H2ORIZON
The H₂ORIZON project is an impressive example of what sector coupling can look like in practice: In a joint project between our subsidiary ZEAG and the German Aerospace Center, green hydrogen is produced using renewable electricity from the adjacent wind park and then used at the DLR site in Lampoldshausen. The sectors of renewable energies, hydrogen and storage applications, space travel, heat generation and mobility are thus successfully coupled with one another.
Use - H2-ready Heilbronn gas power plant
As EnBW, we want to make an active contribution to climate protection, which is why our goal is to achieve climate neutrality by 2035. With this goal in mind, EnBW will continue to systematically expand renewable energies and phase out the use of coal as an energy source in the medium term. The top priority is always to ensure that the supply of electricity and heat is not jeopardized. EnBW is therefore relying on the fuel switch principle at the Heilbronn site and is initially replacing coal as a fuel with the more climate-friendly natural gas by building a new combined cycle gas turbine (CCGT) plant. This switch to natural gas represents the bridge on the way to climate-friendly gases such as renewably generated hydrogen, which can then be used to achieve complete climate neutrality by 2035.
- Generation capacity (electric): 675 MW
- Generation capacity (thermal): 190 MW
- Further information to the plant in Heilbronn
Use - H2-ready Stuttgart-Münster gas power plant
With the construction of a new gas turbine plant to generate electricity and heat on the basis of climate-friendly natural gas at the Stuttgart-Münster site, EnBW is taking a major step towards its goal of climate neutrality by 2035. The fuel switch to more climate-friendly natural gas is only a bridging technology on the way to generating energy using climate-friendly gases such as renewably generated hydrogen.
- Power capacity (electric): 124 MW
- Generation capacity (thermal): 450 MW
- Further information to the plant Stuttgart-Münster
Use - H2-ready Altbach/Deizisau gas power plant
With the construction of a new combined cycle gas turbine (CCGT) plant at its Altbach/Deizisau site, EnBW intends to initially replace coal with the more climate-friendly natural gas via a fuel switch. A few years later, the gas turbine is to be operated with hydrogen in order to reduce emissions to zero in the long term. In this way, EnBW plans to achieve its promise of climate neutrality by 2035 – the contribution to climate protection in line with the Paris Agreement of 2015 to which the company has committed itself.
- Power capacity (electric): 665 MW
- Generation capacity (thermal): 180 MW
- Further information to the plant Altbach/Deizisau
Hydrogen generation - H₂-Wyhlen real-world laboratory
Together with our partner Energiedienst, one of the largest production capacities for hydrogen in southern Germany is to be built here in the foreseeable future. At the Grenzach-Wyhlen site, green and therefore climate-neutral hydrogen is to be produced using renewable electricity from the nearby hydropower plant. The H₂-Wyhlen project received a positive funding decision as part of the “Real-world laboratories of the energy transition” funding program of the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Protection (BMWK). EnBW and Energiedienst are already jointly operating a 1 MW alkaline power-to-gas plant at the Wyhlen site, which was funded as part of a flagship project of the Baden-Württemberg Ministry of Economic Affairs.
- H₂ generation capacity: 6 MW
Hydrogen buses for Düsseldorf
In the North Rhine-Westphalian state capital, fuel cell buses are to provide more climate-friendly public transportation in the future. To this end, Stadtwerke Düsseldorf, whose largest shareholder is EnBW, is investing in hydrogen technology: In future, an electrolyzer will produce green hydrogen on site. The electricity used for this comes from the neighboring waste incineration plant.
Complete value chain: greenHyBB
Under the project name greenHyBB (= green hydrogen for Brandenburg), VNG, ONTRAS and EnBW want to establish a complete value chain for green hydrogen in Lusatia: EnBW is planning to build wind and solar parks for this purpose. These will produce green electricity in the region and feed it into the public grid. An electrolyzer, also built regionally by the project partners, takes the green electricity generated from the grid and produces hydrogen by electrolysis.
The green hydrogen produced in this way can be made available to companies based in Brandenburg by connecting the electrolysis plant to nearby H₂ pipelines. Surplus hydrogen can also be transported to other regions via the emerging European Hydrogen Backbone.
Source: EnBW, FNB Gas
Together for the H₂ ramp-up
EnBW and its subsidiaries work closely together in the field of hydrogen. This enables the exchange of experience and leads to the development of groundbreaking solutions.
Source of the pipe storage yard pictures: terranets bw