German industrial manufacturing giant Siemens will build a green hydrogen production plant in Germany's Wunsiedel Energy Park in north of Bavaria calling it one of the largest such projects in the country. Storable hydrogen will be produced here from Siemens Energy's Silyzer 300, with the help of renewable energy sources as solar PV and wind energy.
Initially under phase I, the plant will use 6 MW of renewable power to produce 900 tons of green hydrogen annually in 2021 when it is commissioned. When fully expanded, it will supply up to 2,000 tons of green hydrogen, said Siemens that has entered into the arrangement through Siemens Smart Infrastructure with hydrogen specialist WUN H2 to build the plant.
The project will be located next to an operational battery storage facility, manufactured by Siemens.
The plant will put to use a proton-exchange membrane (PEM) instead of traditional alkali electrolysis to utilize fluctuating wind and solar electricity.
Siemens said the green hydrogen thus produced will be made available after being filled into gas cylinders for local distribution for applications in mobility and industry. For local and regional end customers, mostly in Upper Franconia, the Upper Palatinate, southern Thuringia and Saxony, as well as Western Bohemia (Czech Republic), it will be shipped by trucks. "A public hydrogen filling station for trucks and buses may be added later at the same location to aid the conversion of heavy-duty traffic and public transportation to CO2-free drive technology," it added.
According to the plans chalked out, the renewable hydrogen plant will also help ease grid bottlenecks and provide flexibility for the grid.
"We want to achieve locally already today what Germany is targeting for 2050, namely a complete energy transition across all sectors," said Uwe Bartmann, CEO of Siemens Germany and CEO of Smart Infrastructure Regional Solutions & Services Germany.
Germany aims to become a GHG neutral country by 2050 by enforcing decarbonization for all sectors including transportation and industry and green hydrogen is likely to play a big role in it.
Earlier this month, the governments of Germany and another renewable hydrogen focused country Australia signed a pact to jointly undertake a feasibility study on trade and investment in hydrogen produced from renewable energy.
Siemens is aiding fellow German fossil fuel power generator Uniper to explore production and use of green hydrogen and become a net-zero emitter by 2035 (see Green Hydrogen Partnership Between Uniper & Siemens).