Early last September, several business, city and state representatives signed a cooperation agreement to construct a Hydrogen Campus on a Bosch-owned site in Salzgitter, Germany. The areal will be used to demonstrate industrial hydrogen applications and include research facilities for reducing a factory’s carbon footprint. Lower Saxony, the German state where Salzgitter is located, will fund the initial stage with EUR 7 million taken from its economic development program.
The campus was an idea hatched by, among others, Heinz Jörg Fuhrmann, chief executive of the company bearing the city’s name, and Salzgitter’s mayor, Frank Klingebiel. Over the past years, Fuhrmann has been a vocal advocate of substituting hydrogen for other energy sources in steelmaking. Set to retire this summer, Fuhrmann will be succeeded by Gunnar Groebler, who currently leads Vattenfall’s wind energy division. His successor on the National Hydrogen Council will be Arnd Köfler, of ThyssenKrupp (see H2-international, October 2020).
Fuhrmann said: “Green hydrogen is a central element of our decarbonization project SALCOS, also known as Salzgitter Low CO2 Steelmaking. The new Hydrogen Campus will offer us a chance to combine expertise and inter-disciplinary work, an added value for all stakeholders and local residents (see H2-international, July 2018).” He added: “The cooperation agreement is a major step toward our hydrogen campus. It is a commitment to Salzgitter’s economic promise ensuring future-proof jobs. The business transformation process is in full swing.”
Other partners include Fraunhofer IST and companies such as Robert Bosch Elektronik, Alstom Transport Germany and MAN Energy Solutions.
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