TICKER (week 21): What’s also important…

Berlin: Federal Cabinet decides on the framework of a hydrogen core network + + + Leinfelden-Echterdingen: Daimler shows electric bus with fuel cells + + + Duisburg: Thyssenkrupp Steel provides information about planned steel production via direct reduction + + + Rotterdam: Project for emission-free inland waterway vessels started + + + Uzbekistan: ACWA Power invests in green hydrogen + + + Sweden: Thyssenkrupp Nucera supplies electrolyzer for steelworks + + +DISCOUNT-Action: Your ADVERTISING on the PtX portal

A selection of PtX topics summarized at the end of the week

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The Federal Cabinet has decided on regulations on the legal and regulatory framework of a future hydrogen core network in Germany. The aim is “the rapid ramp-up of the hydrogen market in order to further promote the decarbonization, especially of economic sectors with high greenhouse gas emissions,” said Federal Minister for Economic Affairs and Climate Protection Robert Habeck. This requires a quick and cost-efficient development of a hydrogen network infrastructure in Germany “that grows with the hydrogen market and is embedded in the EU internal market”. The approval of a hydrogen core network by the Federal Network Agency is regulated in the amended Energy Industry Act (EnWG). For this purpose, central hydrogen locations should be connected and all regions of Germany should be taken into account. The network will be modeled by the operators of long-distance gas networks “in the coming months”. There will then be a consultation with the public, the countries and various market participants. The first stage of the network includes hydrogen infrastructure that will be operational by 2032. By the end of the year, a comprehensive hydrogen network development plan is to be anchored in the EnWG in a second stage.

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Daimler is presenting its first series-production electric bus with a fuel cell as a range extender at the Global Public Transport Summit from June 4th to 7th, 2023 in Barcelona. The articulated train variant of the “eCitaro fuel cell“ can cover around 350 kilometers without recharging and offers space for 128 passengers. The basis is a battery-electric drive, the fuel cell with an output of 60 kilowatts is used to extend the range (range extender). The battery capacity is 392 kilowatt hours. The development is being funded by the Federal Ministry of Digital and Transport with a total of 3,3 million euros as part of the National Innovation Program for Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Technology.

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Thyssenkrupp Steel Europe AG wants to provide information about the direct reduction plant for steel production planned in Duisburg on June 7th, 12th and 19th. Completion is scheduled for 2026. At the events, visitors will learn details about planning and construction, the environment, logistics and safety, but also the approval process and the complete transformation of steel production by 2045, the company said. A 3D model is also available. The Vevents take place in Duisburg and Rheinberg. Formal public participation is expected to begin in the first half of 2024 as part of the approval process under the Federal Immission Control Act.

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The Norwegian electricity producer Statkraft wants to operate electrolysers with an output of at least 2030 megawatts in Germany by 250. The company had already announced plans in April for a ten megawatt pilot project at the power plant site in Emden, which should be ready for operation in 2025, “provided the necessary permits and financing” are secured. The aim is to install electrolysers in Emden to produce green hydrogen with a total capacity of up to 200 megawatts, which will be connected to the future hydrogen pipeline network by 2030. Other German power plant locations are currently being examined for their potential to produce green hydrogen. Statkraft wants to install renewable energy power plants with an output of 2025 to 2.500 megawatts per year worldwide from 3.000. In Germany, an installed capacity of 2030 megawatts of wind and solar power plants is planned by 2.000.

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The administration of the Port of Rotterdam, together with the Province of South Holland and more than 40 partners, has launched a project for hydrogen-powered inland and coastal shipping. Under the name “Condor H2” It should be possible to use 2030 emission-free ships by 50 and achieve a CO2 reduction of 100.000 tons per year. Fuel cells with a battery pack and hydrogen storage are to be provided on a “pay-per-use” basis in order to keep investments low for the owners. The hydrogen is delivered in tank containers that are loaded onto ships and exchanged after they are emptied. The companies involved in the project, including six ports, want to send the first ships with the Condor H2025 system onto the water as early as 2. The project is part of the RH2INE network, a cooperation between ports, regional governments and market participants along the Rhine corridor, which stretches from Belgium and the Netherlands to Switzerland. We are currently working on a comparable concept, but for large passenger ships SHYPS-Consortium.

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The Saudi Arabian project developer ACWA Power has established a partnership with the state-owned chemical company Uzkimyosanoat in Uzbekistan agreement closed. Accordingly, a plant for the production of green hydrogen will be installed in the country in two phases. Initially, around $100 million (93 million euros) would be invested in the Tashkent region, says Marco Arcelli, Chief Executive Officer of ACWA Power. With the production target of 3.000 tons of green hydrogen per year, the Uzbek chemical industry could save up to 20,4 million cubic meters of natural gas annually. In a second phase, four billion dollars will be raised for a plant to produce 120.000 tons of hydrogen per year. This would save 830 million cubic meters of natural gas. Renewable energies with an output of 2,6 gigawatts would be integrated into the project. Another agreement includes the financing of the “Karatau” wind farm with a total investment value of $120 million. The 100 megawatt project is expected to go into operation in February 2025. The utility National Electric Grid of Uzbekistan will take the revenue for 25 years. Project financing was secured by the German Investment Company (DEG), the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and Proparco. Proparco is a French state institution that uses money from several industrialized countries to finance development projects in Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Middle East.

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Thyssenkrupp Nucera supplies electrolyzers for H2 Green Steel AB with an output of more than 700 megawatts to Sweden. The basis is a standardized 20 megawatt module called “Scalum”, which is operated with electricity from hydro and wind power. According to the information, the proceeds are used to produce 2,5 million tons of green steel per year. By 2030, steel production in northern Sweden is expected to increase to five million tons. The plant should go into operation at the end of 2025 and be ramped up in 2026. The technical principle is based on the fact that in iron production, hydrogen is used instead of coke for the direct reduction of iron. This process does not produce liquid pig iron, but rather a solid sponge iron that is refined into crude steel in an electric arc furnace. The German steel group Salzgitter AG and Thyssenkrupp Steel are currently implementing the same process in Duisburg. As reported H2 Green Steel awarded the contract for the construction of the plant for the direct reduction of iron ore to the Luxembourg-based Paul Wurth SA and its US consortium partner Midrex Technologies, Inc. in October last year. Thyssenkrupp is currently building electrolyzers in several countries, including Saudi Arabia (two gigawatts), Brazil (Unigel) and in the port of Rotterdam with a 200 megawatt hydrogen plant for Shell.

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Photos
iStock / © Danil Melekhin