Germany's BayWa r.e., along with its Dutch subsidiary GroenLeven, has officially announced a pilot project 'one of the first of its kind' to use solar power to produce green hydrogen from a 50 MW PV facility in the Netherlands. The duo have finalized their cooperation agreements with the country's largest network company Alliander on the SinneWetterstof Hydrogen Pilot Project that has been in the offing since autumn 2020 (see Netherlands Exploring Solar Powered Hydrogen Project).
The agreements make way for the project partners to start construction and commissioning work for the pilot. They expect construction on the project to complete by August 2021-end and become completely operational by late 2021.
BayWa explains that excess power from a 50 MW solar farm will power an electrolyzer to produce green hydrogen. "With this hydrogen solution, generated energy can be stored locally, in a sustainable way, so it is not lost," it added.
"In addition to the fact that this project will give us valuable insights into the usage of green hydrogen as a storable form of renewable energy, it also allows us to look at how the electrolyzer can adapt to the constantly changing generation from the solar park," said GroenLeven Project Manager, Willem de Vries. "We look forward to learning more about the capabilities of such an installation."
BayWa has also entered into an agreement with Dutch green fuels supplier Orangegas to sell green hydrogen from the pilot project to, which the latter will distribute to various filling stations throughout the country.
The German company's Strategy Manager, Corporate Strategy, Energy Policy & Sustainability Manfred Groh believes smart deployment of electrolyzers will help reduce the need to invest in new grid connections or extensions, and will also enable further installations of more renewable plants in Europe.
Green hydrogen is gaining traction in Europe as the European Commission has aims to bring online at least 46 GW of renewable energy powered hydrogen capacity by 2030 and go further beyond that (see European Commission Launches Hydrogen Strategy).