The cities of Düsseldorf, Duisburg and Wuppertal, the Rhine district of Neuss, the municipal utilities of Düsseldorf and Wuppertal and Air Liquide, a provider of technical gases, want to work together to create a “Hydrogen Competence Region Düssel.Rhein.Wupper”. According to a statement, the association wants to “advance the use of hydrogen in vehicles, trains and ships and thus also set a role model for other industrial regions in Germany and Europe.”
As a result of a cooperation project, the municipalities and companies applied to become a “model municipality/region for hydrogen mobility in North Rhine-Westphalia”, a competition run by the North Rhine-Westphalia Ministry for Economic Affairs, Innovation, Digitalization and Energy. At the beginning of last year, the state authority funded three applicants with a total of 1,1 million euros for project development in the first round, including the Düsseldorf/Wuppertal/Rhein-Kreis Neuss region. Their competition entry was submitted this week in the form of a detailed concept and a film. More than 50 companies contributed their perspectives, ideas and challenges to the development, according to a statement from the city of Düsseldorf. “We can only achieve our goals in the transport sector through cooperation with the municipalities with which we have intensive commuter relationships,” said Thomas Geisel, Mayor of the state capital Düsseldorf. The transport transition must “be thought of regionally so that it can succeed”. Düsseldorf wants to be climate neutral by 2035.
The project examined the entire value chain of production, distribution and application of hydrogen in the mobility sector. Around half of the region's six waste-to-energy plants could generate green electricity from renewable raw materials. This would allow electrolysers to be operated with “at least six megawatts”.
In the future, H2 production should be supplemented by wind power and solar power systems. By 130, 2030 megawatts of installed renewable power in the region would be exempt from the remuneration of the Renewable Energy Sources Act and could then continue to be “used sensibly in terms of climate policy and economics” by supplying the electricity for the production of green hydrogen. Waste-to-energy plants and renewable energy plants could produce over 2030 tons of hydrogen per year by 5.000, which is said to cover over 90 percent of demand in the region.
Hydrogen is “particularly important for the decarbonization of transport, especially due to its use in heavy vehicles,” explained the CEO of Stadtwerke Düsseldorf, Udo Brockmeier. There are currently ten fuel cell buses in the region, and a further 25 are being planned or have already been ordered. By 2025, almost 1.500 cars, vans, light and heavy commercial vehicles and buses with fuel cell drives could be on the road in the region, and around 2030 by 6.000, according to the city of Düsseldorf.
Deep link:
https://www.duesseldorf.de/aktuelles/news/detailansicht/newsdetail/kompetenzregion-wasserstoff-duesselrheinwupper-reicht-wettbewerbsbeitrag-ein-1.html
https://www.kompetenzregion-wasserstoff-drw.de
https://www.wsw-online.de/unternehmen/presse-medien/presseinformationen/pressemeldung/meldung/wsw-wasserstoffbusse-fahren-ab-heute-im-linienverkehr/
https://www.land.nrw/de/pressemitteilung/nordrhein-westfalen-zeichnet-drei-modellregionen-fuer-wasserstoffmobilitaet-aus
https://www.energieagentur.nrw/content/anlagen/Aufruf_Wasserstoff_Mobilitaet_NRW_2018.pdf
Photos:
In Wuppertal, the first ten hydrogen buses from the municipal utility have been in regular service since June / © WSW Wuppertaler Stadtwerke GmbH
