To build and expand the infrastructure needed for green energy, we need a lot of cheap energy. We're giving this cheap energy to the Chinese.
EU’s regulation without boundaries doesn’t help either. We have at EU level instead of politicians responsible to voters, a group of unelected regulators, like hammers looking for a nail to fix.
"The first section of the hydrogen core network is going into operation in the Central German Chemical Triangle. Green hydrogen is expected to flow to the first customer this year.
The gas network of the Leipzig-based long-distance pipeline operator Ontras is 7,700 kilometers long. This makes the subsidiary of Leipziger Verbundnetz Gas Aktiengesellschaft (VNG), which is controlled by the Stuttgart-based energy group EnBW, second in Germany.
Beyond its own network area, the largest long-distance pipeline operator in Eastern Germany is currently attracting attention, particularly with the approximately 25-kilometer-long pipeline section from the Bad Lauchstädt Energy Park to the Leuna Chemical Park.
A few days ago, Ontras commissioned the first section of the planned hydrogen core network in Eastern Germany.
"It is the first pipeline that is ready for operation and has been approved for operation with official approval," says Gunar Schmidt, who is responsible for network operation and security on the Ontras management board.
But even more importantly, the pipeline will soon be the first in Germany to transport green hydrogen from the producer via a section of the core hydrogen network to the end customer.
"We will soon have the entire value chain for green hydrogen on site," says Cornelia Müller-Pagel, who heads the Green Gases department and the Bad Lauchstädt Energy Park project at VNG. In this real-world laboratory for the energy transition, 20 kilometers south of Halle, VNG, in a consortium with partners such as the energy group Uniper, the wind power planning company Terrawatt, and its subsidiary Ontras, aims to map the value chain of the green hydrogen economy.
Eight wind turbines with an installed capacity of over 50 megawatts are already in operation. An electrolyzer from the Dresden-based mechanical engineering company Sunfire with an installed electrolysis capacity of 30 megawatts is currently under construction and is expected to produce green hydrogen this year. With the commissioning of the hydrogen pipeline to Leuna by Ontras, the transport route for the green gas to the refinery of anchor customer Total Energies is now complete, and the first project phase is complete. "This works not only technically but also economically," says Müller-Pagel.
Later, an underground hydrogen storage facility will be added to the Bad Lauchstädt Energy Park, which will have a volume roughly equivalent to that of Cologne Cathedral. The investment decision for the storage facility has not yet been made, but the consortium is ready to start here as well, says Müller-Pagel.
In total, the consortium partners plan to invest a good €210 million in the Bad Lauchstädt Energy Park, which is receiving €36 million in funding from the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy.
If the plan succeeds, the project will become the core of a green hydrogen economy in the Central German Chemical Triangle and serve as a model for the whole of Germany.
"If it doesn't work here, it won't work anywhere, because we have all the necessary prerequisites here," says Müller-Pagel. In addition to the availability of renewable energy, the existing pipeline infrastructure, which includes the second-longest hydrogen pipeline in Germany, is one of the most important location factors in the region.
The plant pipeline has connected the Bitterfeld, Schkopau, and Leuna chemical sites since the 1970s. Today, it is operated by the industrial gas specialist Linde. The natural gas pipeline, which Ontras has upgraded to handle volatile hydrogen molecules in recent months and has now put into operation, dates back to the same period. In the former GDR, the pipeline transported so-called town gas, a gas mixture with a high hydrogen content.
"The Leuna chemical site is the center of hydrogen production in the Central German Chemical Triangle," says Christof Günther, Managing Director of Infraleuna, which operates the largest chemical site in eastern Germany. Natural gas-based production dominates, but hydrogen production in electrolyzers has gained importance. Linde operates the largest of these plants in the Leuna Chemical Park, with an electrolysis capacity of 25 megawatts. It produces approximately 3,500 standard cubic meters of hydrogen per hour. By comparison, the conventional plants in Leuna produce about twenty times as much and consume as much natural gas as the entire city of Leipzig.
Günther says that talks are currently underway in Leuna with an investor for an electrolyzer with a capacity of 100 megawatts, which would supply hydrogen to a research facility of the German Aerospace Center (DLR) in the chemical park. The commissioning of the electrolyzer in Bad Lauchstädt will increase the hydrogen production capacity at the chemical site by about three percent.
Sebas says that interest in green hydrogen from potential industrial customers is not only high in the chemical park. However, the uncertainties surrounding the green hydrogen business model are apparently even greater for most interested parties at the moment. "A large proportion of our customers are asking us the same three questions: When will the green hydrogen arrive, at what price, and how far are we from the core grid?" says Pflüger, who, together with VNG Handel & Vertrieb and Uniper, is responsible for the construction of the electrolyzer in Bad Lauchstädt. There are not yet satisfactory answers to all questions, he says.
Nevertheless, VNG was able to conclude what was then the first supply contract of its kind in Europe for green hydrogen with Total Energies at the end of 2023. The French energy group aims to significantly reduce carbon dioxide emissions from its refineries by 2030. Total is also relying on green hydrogen, for example for the desulfurization of mineral oil products. Total has therefore fully secured the planned annual production in Bad Lauchstädt of initially around 2,700 tons of green hydrogen.
Just a few weeks ago, the company also signed an agreement with the energy company RWE, which plans to transport 30,000 tons of green hydrogen annually from its Lingen site, with its planned 300 megawatts of electrolysis capacity, to Leuna starting in 2030. A connection between the two sites via the hydrogen core network still needs to be established for this. In total, Total has put out to tender supply contracts for up to 500,000 tons of hydrogen per year for its refineries.
If green hydrogen from Germany is to become attractive to industrial customers outside the refinery sector in the future, costs must be reduced.
Cornelia Müller-Pagel, project manager of the Bad Lauchstädt Energy Park, is also hoping for pragmatism in Brussels. "Please don't overregulate a market that doesn't even exist yet, and give us breathing room, then we will be able to implement the energy transition in a economically viable way," she said to the EU. The requirements for the certification of renewable fuels of non-biological origin defined in the EU legislation on the promotion of energy from renewable sources, for example, will mean that from 2030 onwards, around a third fewer full-load hours will be available for the production of green hydrogen in Bad Lauchstädt, says Müller-Pagel.
VNG CEO Ulf Heitmüller called for reliable framework conditions at the gas supplier's annual figures presentation in early April. "In order for us to implement our ambitious goals for biogas and hydrogen, we need a political framework that is stable and legally secure and enables long-term investment decisions," he said. Overall, the company, which generated revenue of just over €16 billion last year and an operating profit of €321 million, plans to invest around €5 billion by 2035. According to the company, a total of €329 million was invested in infrastructure projects related to the biogas and hydrogen business last year.
VNG is also relying on new partners for financing. At the beginning of April, the infrastructure investor CVC DIF acquired a stake in the VNG subsidiary Balance, one of the leading operators of biogas plants in Germany. If the relevant antitrust authorities approve the transaction, the infrastructure division of the financial investor CVC will hold a 49 percent stake in Balance. The new partners did not disclose the financial details of the deal. This is VNG's first transaction with an infrastructure investor, the company stated in response to a request. "Further transactions of this type are not currently planned," a company spokesperson said.
The financing requirements for the hydrogen core network are also high. The required investment for the 9,000-kilometer-long network across Germany is estimated at around €19 billion. The VNG subsidiary Ontras intends to contribute up to 1,100 kilometers. The company has already made an investment decision for 600 kilometers to connect the Central German chemical triangle with the greater Leipzig and Berlin areas, all the way to the Baltic Sea. 500 kilometers of this will be covered by repurposed natural gas pipelines, such as the one between Bad Lauchstädt and the Leuna Chemical Park.
Dow is considering closures
The US chemical company Dow is considering shutting down two facilities in the Central German Chemical Triangle. These are plants in Schkopau in Saxony-Anhalt and Böhlen in Saxony. The company announced this at the end of the week. Both plants are among the most energy- and cost-intensive at its German production sites. "Dow is considering various options, the most likely of which are a temporary shutdown or closure of the facilities," the company added. Management spoke of a challenging situation on the global markets. The reasons are overcapacity and the increasingly dire situation due to further imports.
High energy, raw material, and CO2 costs, as well as increasing regulatory burdens, are also having a severe impact.
Dow announced a review of all European sites in October. At the beginning of the year, the company reported a quarterly loss. The site reviews are now expected to be completed in the summer. A decision will be made afterward, it said.
Dow has already informed employees at the affected sites about the ongoing review and the possible outcome. Employees and works councils will be involved in accordance with applicable regulations. In Germany, the company employs around 3,600 people at 13 different sites in East and West Germany." [1]
1. Ein Meilenstein für die Wasserstoffpipeline. Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung; Frankfurt. 26 Apr 2025: 26. Von Stefan Paravicini, Bad Lauchstädt
Komentarų nėra:
Rašyti komentarą