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Rotterdam establishes itself as an H2 hub

Rotterdam establishes itself as an H2 hub

Impressive size and professionalism

A completely different league to Hannover Messe or Hy-Fcell in Stuttgart: The World Hydrogen Summit & Exhibition in Rotterdam showed from May 13 to 15, 2024 where the H2 event sector can go. Similarly to the Hydrogen Technology Conference & Expo in Bremen, the organizers staged a large, professional industry gathering, which most participants were impressed by, if not enthusiastic about, which makes you wonder why the fair only lasted two days.

On both days, the floor of the Ahoy Arena was not only bustling with activity, but downright alive and lively – everything was bursting with energy. Full aisles, intensive exchanges and a loud babble of voices – not only at the evening stand parties. A completely different dimension than at most events so far, especially German ones. Even long-time trade fair visitors were impressed by what the organizers described as the “world’s largest” exhibition focusing on hydrogen.

Notable was the number of domestic exhibitors as well as the sometimes very large number of country representatives (20 in total), not least thanks to the support of the Dutch government as co-organizer of the event. Australia, Andalusia, Canada, Chile, Finland, India, Japan, Korea, Morocco, Namibia, Norway, Oman, South Africa and Uruguay, for example, all had their own stands. The VDMA (German association of mechanical engineers) had its own joint PtX stand, and a number of German companies were also present, albeit often with their Dutch representatives.


at the fair with participants from Australia and all over the world.

Among the exhibitors was also Hilux, a Toyota subsidiary, which presented a converted pick-up truck. The prototype, of which a total of ten units have now been built, has a fuel cell system from the Mirai 2 instead of the diesel unit as well as three H2 pressurized gas tanks, which are installed underfloor behind the driver’s seat, while the battery is located on the passenger side. Currently, the vehicles are being tested by customers and it is not unlikely that this model will actually be ready for series production.


Among the trade fair visitors was also the Dutch energy minister Rob Jetten (left), here at the Norway stand in conversation with Maurice Adriaensen, director at DNV Energy Systems

The Hydrogen Transport Award of the SEC (Sustainable Energy Council) was won this year by the Australian company Fortescue with its ammonia-powered ship. Green Pioneer is considered the first ship of its kind to be certified to use ammonia in combination with diesel as a marine fuel. Mark Hutchinson, CEO of Fortescue Energy, said: “Green Pioneer is a testament to our delivery capability and commitment and shows the future of green ammonia as a marine fuel. But our work doesn’t stop here. We are now calling on regulators, ports and institutions to join us in accelerating the adoption of ammonia as a marine fuel. Let us create green maritime hubs and corridors together and usher in a new era of sustainable shipping.”

Emma White, head of marketing for the British organizer Sustainable Energy Council (SEC), spoke to H2-international of more than 15,000 trade fair and more than 2,000 conference guests (if a person appears on three days, they are counted three times) as well as 500 exhibitors who presented their products and services. At the Hydrogen Technology Conference & Expo in Bremen last year were around 550 exhibitors and more than 10,000 visitors.

Large, prominent conference
Similar to Hannover, there were two presentation forums where current developments were provided in the form of lectures, and a truly impressively large three-day conference that easily eclipses German congresses in terms of both the prominence of the speakers and the number of participants. (The only irritating thing was that not all conference guests knew that the trade fair did not run parallel on every day.) There was also an Africa Hydrogen Forum and the awarding of the World Hydrogen Awards.

Visit from New Mexico
Noteworthy was the visit of the governor of New Mexico: Michelle Lujan Grisham appeared in the Netherlands with an accompanying entourage and business representatives to promote the settlement of potential interested parties on the abundant land available in New Mexico. The US state, which has so far been dominated by oil and gas, is consciously focusing on the transformation process, in order to create a new future for the country and the many people working in the energy sector.

During an on-site talk with H2-international, the governor expressed that New Mexico is well prepared for the energy transition and has no fears about a presidential change should it come to that in November 2024. The detailed interview will follow in the October 2024 edition of H2-international.

Author: Sven Geitmann

Partnership is the new leadership

Partnership is the new leadership

Chancellor Olaf Scholz visits Hydrogen + Fuel Cells Europe

The atmosphere was good. Not ecstatic, as was sometimes the case last year, but certainly lively. Especially in Hall 13, where the Hydrogen + Fuel Cells Europe event took place, where the aisles well filled and the babble of voices was much louder than in the other halls on the exhibition grounds. Nevertheless, the impression remains that also in the 30th year of this H2 fair, the market breakthrough is still a long time coming and will happen “in only five years,” as has been said for 20 years.

Hannover Messe still lays claim to being the world’s most important industrial trade fair – according to Dr. Jochen Köckler, the board chairman of Deutsche Messe AG, it is even the “mother of all trade fairs.” As in previous years, it also benefited from April 22 to 26, 2024 immensely from the current H2 boom. The great interest in hydrogen and fuel cell technology once again led to acceptable exhibitor and visitor numbers. New impetus as an indication of the direction in which the traditional trade fair business could develop there were however none.

It could be said that the H2 fair has once again rescued Deutsche Messe’s balance sheet.

Chancellor Scholz visits H2 businesses
Not without reason did German chancellor Olaf Scholz give Hydrogen + Fuel Cells Europe a visit. The focus of his opening tour lay in the energy halls, where he stopped at Salzgitter (“We’re proceeding together on the trip” see Fig. 2) as well as by GP Joule. Ove Petersen, cofounder and one of the managing directors of GP Joule, stressed how important the improvement of political framework conditions are to actually be able to establish electrolyzer capacities (see also p. 18).


Chancellor O. Scholz with the Norwegian Minister-President J. G. Støre, Salzgitter head G. Groebler, Minister-President of Niedersachsen S. Weil, Norwegian economy minister C. Myrseth, German family minister L. Paus and German research minister B. Stark-Watzinger

Revealing word choice
Interesting to observe was how the word choice of some areas changed. For example, in numerous lectures were again and again talk of “Low-Carbon-Wasserstoff” (low-carbon hydrogen). With this crafted word, the speakers smoothly circumvent the classification of hydrogen into the, by some, really unpopular color scale. “Low-Carbon” implies that during the H2 production, little carbon dioxide is emitted, but avoids a stigmatization by the attribute “gray,” “blue” or “turquoise,” since even the smallest blending with green hydrogen is enough to be able to designate it as low-carbon.

Green or blue
For Olaf Lies, the state of Niedersachen’s economy minister, blue hydrogen is “a huge matter for achieving the climate targets.” In view of the tiresome discussion about color, he pointed out in Hannover that nobody asks about the color of electricity. “This must also be the case with hydrogen,” according to the minister.

Another innovation in the language style seems to concern the working principle in the hydrogen economy: Ever more frequently heard are sentences (in English), like “Partnership is the new leadership” or “Cooperation is key.” More and more players are realizing that the transformation process currently underway in the energy sector cannot be mastered alone, but only together.

What’s remained the same, in contrast, is the time horizon until the market ramp-up. Here we are still at five years. While in recent years it was still said that H2 trucks would be built in series starting 2025, representatives of the vehicle industry made it very clear that significant unit sales could not be expected in Germany until 2029 the earliest. Different is the situation in Asia: Refire advertised, for example, that it could already build 5,000 fuel cell systems per year.

After all, Dr. Matthias Jurytko, CEO of Cellcentric committed himself both to H2 technology and to Germany as a business location by saying: “Many talk about factories – We’re building one.” He also clarified: “Hydrogen will be the driver for long-haul transport.” At the same time, however, he conceded: “An increase in unit sales will not come until 2029/30.”


Dr. Jurytko: “There will be no long-haul transport without hydrogen.”

At around the same time, gray hydrogen could be just as expensive as green hydrogen due to rising CO2 prices, anticipates Gilles Le Van from Air Liquide.

Lively exchange in the forums
In addition, in the Public Forum of Hydrogen + Fuel Cells Europe (see Fig. 3 and 4), exhibitors once again explained their new developments this year or discussed them with guests from industry and politics. For example, what framework conditions or incentives for sector coupling and flexibilization of energy consumption are still lacking, or where and how green hydrogen will be produced in sufficiently large quantities worldwide.

Also the question of how much hydrogen Germany will produce itself and how much will be imported from its European neighbors moderator Ulrich Walter discussed with various guests. Christian Maaß, head of the department for energy policy at the federal economy ministry (BMWK), cited estimates that Germany could produce just under half of its climate-neutral hydrogen requirements itself, with the remainder having to be imported.

When asked by the moderator why the electrolysis capacities would not be immediately increased to 20 GW by 2030, replied Maaß, “With higher targets I would be careful, as electrolyzers need a lot of electricity.” He therefore advocates aligning the production of green H2 with the expansion of renewable energy. Not least to avoid conflicting objectives, because the direct consumption of green electricity should have priority. In this respect, he assumes that large quantities of green hydrogen will probably be imported from overseas, in the form of ammonia, methane and SAF (sustainable aviation fuel). Overall, however, Germany will need around ten percent of the world’s H2 production, making it a global player.

A completely different view is held by Heinrich Gärtner, founder and CTO of the GP Joule Group. He was convinced “that we can produce much more green hydrogen domestically than we today think,” and explained: “We already have a large potential for renewable energies, and this is continuing to grow. This also increases the amount of surplus electricity that can be used to produce hydrogen using electrolysis.” This is not only sensible, but also necessary. This relieves the strain on the grids and enables local value creation. In his view, Germany only needs a tiny proportion of its land area to produce all the renewable energy it needs itself. “We have everything here: the technology and the infrastructure.”


Numerous political representatives were on hand to answer questions

Cooperation in the European Area
Werner Diwald, chairman of the German hydrogen association (DWV), said, “The EU member states should be our main importing countries, not least to strengthen mutual relations and support stability within the European Union.” He also expressed optimism that the hydrogen economy could be ramped up quickly once a market and corresponding business models were in place. Something similar has already been seen with renewable energies. It should not be forgotten: The whole world needs green hydrogen. Germany therefore has a lot of competition, as other countries are also pursuing their own H2 strategies, according to Diwald.

The politicians present proved that the envisaged transformation process has long been underway with some impressive figures: For example, Olaf Lies spoke about 30 large gas-fired power plants in Niedersachsen that are to be made H2-ready. And his colleague Mona Neubaur, economy minister of Nordrhein-Westfalen (NRW), announced 200 hydrogen refueling stations by 2030. “We’re placing the infrastructure in the region with precision.” She asserted that NRW is to become the first CO2-neutral industrial region.

Hermes Startup Award: And the winner is …
As every year, the trade fair awards a prize to a particularly innovative company that is no more than five years old. For 2024, the Hermes Startup Award went to Archigas from Rüsselsheim, Germany. The company received the award for a moisture-resistant sensor for measuring hydrogen. The principle, which was developed together with the university Hochschule RheinMain, is based, according to the manufacturer, on an improved measurement of thermal conductivity on a microchip. The innovative technology is characterized by “miniaturization, robust design, short measuring times and a wide range of applications,” praised Prof. Holger Hanselka, president of the Fraunhofer research institutes and chair of the jury for the Hermes Startup Awards. Archigas is an “excellent example for innovation-driven businesses,” which have created the basis for the hydrogen economy to form.

Norway as a pioneer for green industrial transformation
The partner country Norway was represented with its own pavilion on the topics of energy, process industry, battery and charging solutions, and digitalization in Hall 12 and also on the orange carpet of the H2 trade fair – with the (English) slogan “Pioneering the Green Industrial Transition.” As an energy producer and pioneer in e-mobility, the Scandinavian country sees itself as a kind of catalyst for accelerating the green transition to a low-carbon society. For example, in the development of renewable energies and the use of digital solutions to trim the industry to net zero, as the H2 expert and former LBST employee Ulrich Bünger explained, who in “retirement” advises Norwegian Energy Partners (Norwep). The aim is to produce around four percent of Europe’s estimated ten million tonnes of hydrogen imports by 2030.

“Norway and Germany are important trading partners, and we have entered into a strategic industrial partnership for renewable energy and green industry,” said the Norwegian trade and industry minister Jan Christian Vestre in the opening of the fair. “We hope that the Norwegian presence at Hannover Messe will further strengthen this close cooperation between our two countries,” he said.


Honda showed its new FC system

The EEA (European Economic Area) Agreement means that Norway is fully integrated into the European single market, so trade and investment should flow seamlessly between Norway, Germany and the other countries of the European Union. During the trade fair, Germany also concluded an agreement with its Scandinavian partner on the storage of carbon dioxide (carbon capture and storage, CCS).

A major order was able to be announced by Norwegian manufacturer of hydrogen storage systems Hexagon Purus. Starting the second quarter of 2024, it will supply H2 tanks to the Berlin-based company Home Power Solutions (HPS), which claims to have developed the world’s first year-round electricity storage system for buildings. The Picea system will be primarily used in single-family homes in combination with PV modules. Surplus solar power, which is mainly generated in summer, will be converted into green hydrogen using an electrolyzer, which will be stored in high-pressure tanks from Hexagon. In winter, this is then used for reconversion to electricity. According to information from HPS, this allows buildings to be supplied with solar energy all year round. “Our high-pressure hydrogen tanks are flexible and scalable, making them suitable for a wide range of applications,” such as with HPS, said Matthias Kötter, managing director of the location in Weeze.

Creativity and inventiveness in Hall 13
A product innovation was presented for example by SFC Energy with the EFOY H2PowerPack X50, a pilot series for the most powerful fuel cell system to date with up to 200 kW in cluster operation. According to the FC specialist from Bavaria, this latest development offers the user a continuous electrical output power of 50 kW. However, up to four of these H2PowerPacks can be connected together to reach an output of 200 kW. The environmentally and climate-friendly alternative to diesel generators is equipped with standard 400 V AC connections, an integrated lithium battery and a 300‑bar hydrogen interface.

The operation is, according to information from the manufacturer, emissions-free; no CO2, carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxides or fine particles are emitted. Likely applications include the emergency power supply of hospitals or communication and IT systems, mobile power supply for construction sites and events or a continuous power supply for self-sufficient companies. “With the push into higher performance classes, SFC Energy is responding to correspondingly high market demand,” announced the company founded in 2000 and headquartered in Brunnthal near Munich. The series production and market introduction are planned for the beginning of 2025.


This year’s H2 Eco Award went to the energy park Bad Lauchstädt

Lhyfe expands
What the hydrogen ramp-up looks like from the perspective of the Lhyfe Group, which now operates in eleven European countries, was reported by Luc Graré, who heads the Central and Eastern Europe division: “We are right now scaling up our production.” He describes the philosophy of the hydrogen pioneer, which was founded in 2017, as follows: “We start small, learn, grow, learn again, grow further and then scale up.” After the company started with an electrolysis capacity of one megawatt in France, it is now 10 MW.

Currently, six production plants for green hydrogen are planned or in the construction phase: Three in France, three in Germany. “And it will be increasingly more,” he said. A 10‑MW plant is currently under construction in the Niedersachen port town of Brake (on the Unterweser). Up to 1,150 tonnes of green H2 are to be produced there annually, which will go to regional customers from the industrial and transport sectors. The company has secured the purchase of green electricity through long-term electricity contracts (PPAs) with operators of wind farms and photovoltaic systems.

Another 10‑MW plant has been under construction in Schwäbisch Gmünd in Baden-Württemberg since autumn 2023, and is scheduled to go into operation in the second half of this year – with a production of up to four tonnes of green hydrogen per day. Still under development is the plan to commission an 800‑MW plant in Lubmin, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern by 2029, which is to be built on the site of the decommissioned nuclear power plant. According to information from Lhyfe, the hydrogen produced there in the future could be fed into the emerging hydrogen network.

Formic acid as H2 storage
Even outside Hall 13 was a lot about hydrogen. At some stands it looked like a chemistry lab, with bubbling water in glass vessels or a cloudy nutrient liquid in transparent bioreactors. With one, Festo, in Hall 7 showed its latest achievement in H2 storage: the so-called BionicHydrogenBattery (see Fig. 7). It contains bacteria from Lake Kivu in Central Africa that convert hydrogen into formic acid in a natural process. In this chemically bound form, hydrogen is comparatively easy to store and transport. It is also more climate-friendly, as there is no need for energy-intensive compression or cooling to ‑253 °C to liquefy hydrogen. The conditions under which the microorganisms do their work are moderate: They need a temperature of 65 °C and a pressure of 1.5 bar.


The cultivation reactor of the BionicHydrogenBattery from Festo

Normally, the bacteria called Thermoanaerobacter kivui live in sludge in the absence of oxygen (anaerobe). They have an enzyme with which they can convert hydrogen and carbon dioxide into formic acid (CH2O2). They can also reverse the process. The basic research in this area was carried out by the team around Volker Müller, Professor at the Goethe-Universität Frankfurt and head of the department of molecular microbiology and bioenergetics, with which the bionic project team of Festo, according to its information, is working closely.

From an economic point of view, the exciting thing about this biological process is not only the speed of the reaction, but also the fact that the bacteria act as catalysts: “They are not used up,” stated the globally active company specialized in automation technology and founded in Esslingen 1925. “The process can be repeated at will with sufficient regeneration phases – just like a cycle,” they stated. As the reaction can take place in both directions, bacteria of this type are able to break down formic acid back into hydrogen and carbon dioxide at the target site. The CO2 can then be used in the beverage industry, for example.

Positive conclusion
At the closing press conference, Jochen Köckler came to, as expected, a positive tally: More than 130,000 visitors from over 150 countries met 4,000 exhibitors from 60 countries. Of these, 40 percent of the visitors came from abroad: most of them from China and the neighboring Netherlands, followed by the USA, Korea and Japan. Gunnhild Brumm from the Norwegian business development organization Innovation Norway was pleased about the good business and contract conclusions: “In short: It was really worth it! It was a real boost for us. We would love to come back.” Not as a partner country again, of course, because next year that will be Canada.

“We are laying the foundations for the H2 economy of the future…. The speed of artificial intelligence (AI) is too high in some places, but we absolutely need more speed for hydrogen.”

Dr. Jochen Köckler, chairman of Deutsche Messe

Authors: Monika Rößiger & Sven Geitmann

Hydrogen 3.0

Hydrogen 3.0

“Are we on the cusp of a hydrogen revolution or merely witnessing the build-up of another bubble?” In his new book Hydrogen 3.0 – Reality Check, author Frank Genin seeks to separate fact from fiction. In doing so, the American invites his readers on a journey to uncover the truth behind the hydrogen hype.

Spanning 280 pages and with numerous black-and-white illustrations (also available in color in the digital version), the book provides an all-encompassing view of the global hydrogen economy – in Genin’s words a “nuanced, well-researched perspective” – in which he shines a light on a multitude of topics including various application areas and markets – from China to Germany.

Genin asks whether hydrogen is really the fuel of the future – the green panacea, the magic bullet that we have all been waiting for – or whether, in our desperation, we have perhaps overstated its potential. Written in an impartial and factual style, the book is aimed at investors and environmentalists alike as well as anyone who wants to find out more about hydrogen.

Genin, Frank; Hydrogen 3.0, ISBN 978-2-958-293093, 2024

One-man show continues to grow

One-man show continues to grow

Hydrogeit Verlag celebrates its 20th anniversary

The Hydrogeit Verlag publishing house has been reporting on hydrogen and fuel cell technology for more than 20 years. In these two decades, what was once a one-man operation has now become a key player in the H2 community, providing information and comment through its books and particularly through its specialist journal H2-international and its German counterpart HZwei.

It all began with a book with a very rudimentary design that was published single-handedly in 2002. The title: “Wasserstoff und Brennstoffzellen – Die Technik von morgen” (Hydrogen and Fuel Cells – The Technology of Tomorrow). Due to a lack of enthusiasm from existing publishers at that time, not to mention the outrageously low remuneration that would have been offered to the author, the first edition was released as a “book on demand,” a printing and copying process suitable for small print runs which emerged in the early aughts.

Despite its simplistic layout, the publication still managed to find an interested readership – not least because of the lack of other books on hydrogen – as did the booklet on “Wasserstoff- und Brennstoffzellen-Projekte” (Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Projects) published shortly afterward. The book attracted the attention of graphic designer Andreas Wolter, who liked the content but thought the layout was “unworthy” and offered to raise the quality bar for the second edition. And so it was that the reworked edition appeared two years later with a slick new design, published by the newly founded Hydrogeit Verlag.

Thus Andreas Wolter was the first to join our ever-growing team. A team that makes Hydrogeit Verlag what it is today: the first, and still only, specialist publisher for hydrogen and fuel cells.

Heartfelt thanks!

We’d also like to extend a very special thank-you to everyone who has played a part in creating the books, magazines, websites and newsletters: Henrike Hiersig and Robert Müller, who never fail to be utterly reliable and conscientious in their layout work; Dione Gutzmer, who has proofread so meticulously from the start; Wolf and Kathrin Lewitz, who for many years have showed their creativity in handling all things online; Nicole Helmich and Ina Woryna from fulfillment company VAH Jager, who initially took over the shipping and now also handle the billing; Michael Suckow from printec who, along with his team, brings our creations to life in print, as well as Karlee Archer and Nicola Bottrell Hayward for rendering the German articles into English.

And – crucially – the ever-growing editorial team with Eva Augsten, Sven Jösting, Monika Rößiger, Niels Hendrik Petersen and Aleksandra Fedorska in addition to many others who – time permitting – can always be relied upon to contribute valuable content.

Needless to say, there have also been many others involved in the wide array of publishing projects, be it the hydrogen CD, the teaching material on batteries and fuel cells, the study pack on renewable raw materials or diverse books that have been and will continue to be issued.

Thanks also go to the numerous project partners that over this long period have had a considerable influence on the development of the publishing house and thus likewise on the development of the renewables sector. And, of course, we thank our loyal readers.

It is all thanks to you that Hydrogeit Verlag continues to grow and that – at least to a certain degree – the H2 and FC industry is where it is today. It’s certainly no exaggeration to say that this small publishing house has succeeded in reaching many readers, among them a number of decision-makers, something which has likely helped hydrogen and fuel cells move beyond its niche and into the mainstream.

And with this in mind, we are excited to see what may lie ahead.

Author: Sven Geitmann

Hydrogen for the post-coal era

Hydrogen for the post-coal era

Nuclear energy also to power electrolysis in Hungary

In May 2021, Hungary published its national hydrogen strategy. It sets out how the country plans to create opportunities post-coal. According to the strategy, gray hydrogen is initially expected to be used within industry in the current decade. This will then be replaced only gradually by electrolytic hydrogen. Solar-derived hydrogen is to be produced on sites of former opencast mines, with the first plant already in operation.


Fig. 2: The electrolyzer in the Bükkábrány energy park not only produces solar hydrogen but is also used for research

Elektrolizalo_4.jpg

Image: Bükkábrány Energiapark

The ministry for innovation and technology which is responsible for Hungary’s hydrogen strategy employs the terms “carbon-free hydrogen” and “low-carbon hydrogen” throughout its strategy paper. The expression “green hydrogen,” however, is absent. This is because the Paks nuclear power plant is due to play a major role in the country’s hydrogen production. Unlike other nations, Hungary has openly underlined its desire to put nuclear power at the center of its hydrogen energy plans.

The small town of Paks, situated a good 100 kilometers (60 miles) south of Budapest on the western side of the Danube, is currently home to four working nuclear reactors which together generate 2 gigawatts of power. In addition, the Russian enterprise Rosatom is building a further two reactors at this location which are scheduled for completion in 2032. Their generation capacity is expected to be 2.4 GW. The ministry foresees the power plants in Paks supplying large quantities of cheap, carbon-free electricity that will help build the hydrogen value chain.

The ammonia and refining industries have also established themselves in the Paks area. This points toward possible synergies between the power and mobility sectors within a hydrogen economy. Iron- and steelworks are located in Dunaújváros on the eastern bank of the Danube and cement factories are found in the Transdanubia region to the west of the river. This area likewise has the potential to decarbonize through the introduction of a hydrogen economy.

Northwest: hydrogen instead of coal

Another focus region for the hydrogen economy is expected to be the northwest of the country. Here, decarbonization efforts will center on the old Mátra coal-fired power plant. The mines and the brown coal generation facility will remain operational until 2025, after which time only companies involved in machinery construction, underground engineering and biomass production will continue their activities.

It is hoped that hydrogen will ensure an equitable transition for the Mátra power plant as it moves toward an emission-free future. The intention is to manage the social and economic changes caused by phasing out coal combustion, which will affect the lives of thousands of people, with utmost care and responsibility.

Beyond Transdanubia, initial pilot projects have demonstrated that green hydrogen made using solar power has a great deal of potential here. Photovoltaic plants are being installed on the sites of former opencast mines.

One such pilot project is the Bükkábrány energy park. The scheme is being supported by the University of Szeged and partially financed from EU innovation funds. In 2019, Bükkábrány was already producing solar power on a megawatt scale. By the end of 2023 (correct at the time of publication), generation is set to reach 100 MW of PV power. A further 40 MW is anticipated between 2024 and 2025. An electrolyzer with a 1-MW capacity produces high-purity hydrogen on the site.

Although the project represents the first instance of a commercial-scale electrolyzer plant, the operator is keen to emphasize the trial nature of the project. On the website it states that the electrolyzer will make use of the generation peaks of the neighboring 22-MW solar plant, which is located in an area that was once an opencast brown coal mine. It is understood that the University of Szeged developed the control technology for the plant and has indicated interest in purchasing some of the green hydrogen produced in Bükkábrány.

National hydrogen strategy for Hungary (in English):

https://cdn.kormany.hu/uploads/document/a/a2/a2b/a2b2b7ed5179b17694659b8f050ba9648e75a0bf.pdf

Author: Aleksandra Fedorska