(Bad Lauchstädt) – In the Bad Lauchstädt energy park, a natural gas pipeline is to be repurposed in order to transport hydrogen in the future (we reported). For technically perfect operation, optimal control and monitoring is required, explains the gas network operator VNG AG, which is involved in the energy park consortium.
Bad Lauchstädt Energy Park: The pig sluice is located parallel to the pig sluice for the line to be converted to hydrogen © VNG / Tom Schulze
One way to do this are intelligent measuring probes, called “pigs”. Ontras Gastransport GmbH has now installed a “pig sluice” in Bad Lauchstädt. This means that the devices could be inserted into a transport line while operation is ongoing and - similar to a pneumatic tube - travel through the line to the next pig lock to check their condition, explains VNG: “Inserting the pig lock is a crucial part of converting the gas transport line to the transport of hydrogen.”
Bad Lauchstädt Energy Park: Lifting of the pig sluice for the Flößberg-Bad Lauchstädt gas pipeline. © VNG / Tom Schulze
“This is another important step towards the creation of our Bad Lauchstädt energy park, which will be the first project in Germany to reflect the entire hydrogen economy,” says Cornelia Müller-Pagel, project manager in the consortium. Wind turbines and the electrolyser are currently being built in the immediate vicinity. “By converting the natural gas pipeline, we will put the first hydrogen pipeline in Germany into operation next year.”
Preparations have been going on since 2021. This included checking the technical condition of the management and drawing up a catalog of measures to upgrade it. Technical measures such as changing valves and disconnecting the line from the natural gas network have been and are now being carried out.
The Bad Lauchstädt energy park is located in the immediate vicinity of the underground gas storage facility. The area of the energy park can be seen in the front area. Front right: the excavation pit for the newt sluice. Upper area: area with underground storage buildings. © VNG / Tom Schulze
“By lifting the pre-assembled pig sluice into the excavation pit using a truck crane and welding it to the pipeline in the ground, we have laid the foundation for the gas transport network of the future,” said Ontras spokesman Ralf Borschinsky. The pipeline, which is a good 25 kilometers long, is also the starting point for the planned East German Ontras hydrogen transport network “H2-Startnetz”. With a line length of over 900 kilometers and connections to other hydrogen projects, it is an essential part of the planned nationwide H2 core network.
Green hydrogen value chain
In the following months, a transfer station and a gas cleaning and drying system will be built. Until the Bad Lauchstädt Energy Park is fully operational in 2025, test transports of hydrogen followed, which are scientifically supported by the Gastechnologisches Institut gGmbH Freiberg.
In the Bad Lauchstädt Energy Park, the value chain of green hydrogen is being tested on an industrial scale: from production to storage, transport, marketing and use. A 30-megawatt large-scale electrolysis plant from Sunfire is operated using electricity from a wind farm and the hydrogen is temporarily stored in a salt cavern. The energy source could then be fed into the hydrogen network of the chemical industry based in central Germany.
Participating in the project are Terrawatt Planninggesellschaft mbH (PV and wind farms), Uniper SE (energy supplier), VNG AG (group of companies, gas importer and storage operator), the transmission system operator Ontras Gastransport GmbH, VNG Handel & Vertriebs GmbH, VNG Gasspeicher GmbH and the DBI – Gastechnologisches Institut gGmbH Freiberg, a research institution of the German Gas and Water Association (DVGW).
Photos
Bad Lauchstädt Energy Park: construction pit for the newt sluice. © Tom Schulze
