(Bad Lauchstädt) – Things are moving forward with the Bad Lauchstädt Energy Park: The industrial consortium has now decided to invest in the hydrogen project. Representatives from politics and business carried out the obligatory groundbreaking ceremony in Saxony-Anhalt. The project then leaves the planning stage and enters the implementation phase.
Value creation on an industrial scale
The project was launched in September 2021 Grants of the Federal Ministry of Economics amounting to 34 million euros. The “large-scale real-world laboratory” will one day test the entire green hydrogen value chain on an industrial scale. This includes storage, transport, marketing and use. According to the plan, the gas produced will be temporarily stored in a salt cavern and can be fed into the hydrogen network of the chemical industry based in central Germany via a 20-kilometer-long modified gas pipeline.
According to project manager Cornelia Müller-Pagel, however, it was “not a given that we reached this step” – we “encountered one or two expected and unexpected challenges”. In addition, there are still “significant regulatory and framework uncertainties”.
Investments increase to 210 million euros
Above all, “the general price increases of the past few months” have not gone unnoticed at the energy park. The investment volume was initially forecast to be around 140 million euros - estimates now exceed 210 million euros.
Overview of the future possible uses of the Bad Lauchstädt energy park (Saxony-Anhalt). © Energiepark Bad Lauchstädt
The half dozen or so consortium partners so far are apparently willing to bear the increased costs. On board are Terrawatt Planninggesellschaft mbH, the energy group Uniper SE and the gas network and storage operators Ontras and VNG along with subsidiaries. On the research side, the German Gas and Water Association (DVGW) is taking part with its DBI – Gastechnologisches Institut gGmbH Freiberg. Total Energies Raffinerie Mitteldeutschland from Leuna joined as a new consortium partner. This first anchor customer wants to use the green hydrogen for decarbonization in the refinery process.
Electrolyser and wind farm
The Dresden manufacturer Sunfire GmbH supplies one Large-scale electrolysis-Plant with an output of 30 megawatts. It was pre-ordered before the investment decision in August 2022. Uniper and VNG Handel & Vertriebs GmbH are jointly responsible for construction and operation.
The green electricity required for electrolysis comes from a nearby wind farm with eight turbines, the construction of which, along with the substation, is scheduled to begin immediately. The power to be installed was not mentioned. Commissioning is scheduled for spring 2024.
Trial operation starts in 2025
In addition, work would now begin on the gas transport pipeline to be converted. In 2024, the Total Energies refinery in Leuna will be developed through the construction of the first network connection to the future Ontras hydrogen network. Trial operation will start at the beginning of 2025 and from the third quarter of the year the line will transport green hydrogen from the Bad Lauchstädt energy park to Total Energies.
According to General Manager Thomas Behrends, the group wants to decarbonize all hydrogen used in its European refineries by 2030: “Our goal is to replace gray hydrogen with low-carbon hydrogen, which will result in a reduction of three million tons of CO2030 per year by 2 means."
Photos
Representatives from industry and politics at the groundbreaking ceremony for the Bad Lauchstädt energy park construction project (from left): Jörg Nietzsche (DBI), Hans-Joachim Polk (VNG AG), Michael Kretschmer (Prime Minister of Saxony), Cornelia Müller-Pagel (project manager), Reiner Haseloff ( Prime Minister of Saxony-Anhalt), Axel Wietfeld (Uniper), Stephan Haupt (VNG Trading & Sales), Bernd Protze (VNG Gasspeicher), Falk Zeuner (Terrawatt Planning Company), Uwe Ringel (Ontras), Hartmut Krause (Deputy Project Manager). © Energiepark Bad Lauchstädt / Tom Schulze
