City heats apartments with hydrogen

03.11.2025

Source: E & M powernews

Several hundred homes in the town of Gersthofen near Augsburg will be heated with hydrogen from winter 2026/2027.

Using hydrogen for heating is controversial. There are doubts about its economic viability, especially in private households. Various studies show significantly higher operating costs compared to alternatives such as heat pumps.

Nevertheless, hydrogen will be used in the Bavarian municipality of Gersthofen from winter 2026/27: around 250 rental and owner-occupied apartments in four apartment buildings in Gersthofen will then be heated with hydrogen, according to the energy supplier Energie Schwaben, based in Augsburg.

The explanation is simple: "This is possible because Energie Schwaben is using the hydrogen that the CABB Group produces at the Gersthofen industrial park anyway."
The CABB Group develops and produces chemical active ingredients for crop protection products as well as ingredients for the pharmaceutical and food industries. CABB's electrolysis plants at Gersthofen Industrial Park, which have been in operation since the 1900s, produce chlorine, which is an important raw material required at the site. Hydrogen is produced as a by-product.

The two network operators Schwaben Netz and Gasnetz Gersthofen are responsible for transporting the hydrogen to four apartment buildings with around 250 residential units. The location of the industrial park enables short transportation routes. The annual heat requirement is around 2.5 million kWh. The first households are to be supplied with heat from hydrogen from the 2026/27 heating period.

The distribution network operator Schwaben Netz GmbH, a subsidiary of the regional energy supplier Energie Schwaben, is building a new gas pipeline for the "H2Gersthofen" project. According to the company, "a supply line is being built and part of the existing gas network is being converted into a hydrogen network".

The heating systems in the affected residential complexes are to be converted to hydrogen operation in good time. Nothing should change for the residents as a result of the conversion - "not even radiators need to be replaced", it continues.

The "H2 Gersthofen" project is one of the first large-scale projects in Germany to test the practical use of hydrogen in the heating market. It is intended to demonstrate the role that renewable gases can play in the heat supply of the future. By signing the contracts, the companies have taken a decisive step.

Authors: Stefan Sagmeister