Water alone is simply not enough to produce hydrogen

02/27/2023

Source: Energy & Management Powernews

One has had enough of the most important means of production, it was quipped during the rainy commissioning of the electrolyzer in Wunsiedel (Bavaria). An equally important one is now missing.

The gag was already making the rounds at the groundbreaking ceremony for the 8.75-MW electrolyzer in Wunsiedel, Franconia, when it poured quite a bit. At the commissioning last fall with many invited guests, including Bavaria's Prime Minister Markus Söder (CSU), it was again quite wet: The most important production resource for the plant, it was said at the ceremony with several speeches, which certified a rosy future for the project, is now available again in abundance.

But water alone is not enough to produce hydrogen. Electrolysis requires a lot of electricity - and for the production of green hydrogen, a lot of electricity from renewable energies. And there just isn't enough of it - especially, what a miracle, in the "wind power stronghold" of Bavaria.

And so it comes to pass that the beautiful new plant, designed for an annual production of 1,350 tons of green hydrogen, has been largely at a standstill for months and has hardly produced any hydrogen so far.

The operators of the electrolyzer have identified the electricity price brake as the reason for the dilemma. Renewable plant owners face a revenue penalty, which worsens their financial situation: direct power purchase agreements (PPAs) between them and the electrolyzer operator would not be profitable for them. And prices on the electricity exchange are so high that hydrogen production with energy purchased there would not be economical. Now the Fichtelgebirge is counting on a clarifying discussion with Robert Habeck (Greens). But the Federal Ministry of Economics led by him has not given much hope already in the run-up and pointed to EU requirements in the design of the electricity price brake, as the Süddeutsche Zeitung has learned. It also points to the deadline for concluding PPAs in connection with the electricity price brake, which has been November 2022. And until the end of the brake in April 2024 it takes still a while.

Many ideas for the hydrogen use locally

No rosy perspectives thus for the hydrogen makers from Upper Franconia. Although the operating company "WUN H2 GmbH" with Siemens, Rießner Gase and Stadtwerke Wunsiedel had so many plans. There were many plans to produce the green hydrogen from the electrolyzer, which uses PEM technology that is particularly well suited for operation with photovoltaic and wind power: The local glass and ceramics industries were to be supplied, as well as an automotive supplier and a planned hydrogen filling station in the industrial park, which would be used to fuel trucks belonging to transport companies.

There are also other customers for the electrolysis products in the immediate vicinity: A factory producing wood pellets planned to convert one of three combined heat and power plants to green hydrogen, and a drying plant showed interest in the waste heat. There were also ideas for the remaining oxygen, such as its use in the local sewage treatment plant.

At the opening ceremony last September, it was also announced that the plant's capacity was to be doubled to just under 18 MW by adding a second electrolyzer. This will probably not happen for the time being.

Author: Günter Drewnitzky