(Hamburg) – In Hamburg, twelve companies have joined forces to form a “hydrogen network”. The consortium consists of Airbus, ArcelorMittal, Gasnetz Hamburg, Greenplug, Hamburger Hafen und Logistik AG, Hamburg Port Authority, HADAG Seetouristik und Fährdienst, Stadtreinigung as well as Shell, Vattenfall, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries andwärme Hamburg GmbH, with the latter four already having a “Hamburg Green Hydrogen Hub”. In a first action, the Hamburg Hydrogen Network jointly submitted an application as part of an EU-wide funding program.
The joint projects for the production, distribution and use of hydrogen are intended to contribute to the reduction of greenhouse gases. According to a statement, the alliance partners could reduce CO2026 emissions in Hamburg by 2 tons annually as early as 170.000. “By using hydrogen via on-site electrolysis, seaborne imports and connection to the European hydrogen network, the joint project offers the potential to save more than one million tons of the currently around 2030 million tons of CO16 emissions in Hamburg annually by 2.”
Hydrogen is intended to replace fossil fuels
The green hydrogen produced by the Hamburg Green Hydrogen Hub would primarily replace fossil fuels in industrial production as well as in the transport and logistics sector. In addition to the use of hydrogen, the use of waste heat from electrolysis for the district heating network and the thermal treatment of municipal waste also helps to “additionally reduce the ecological footprint of a large number of other industries”.
With the planned conversion of the coal-fired power plant into... Hamburg Moorburg The foundation stone is being laid for a scalable 100 megawatt electrolysis plant to produce green hydrogen from renewable energies to build a complete hydrogen value chain in the Hanseatic city. With its extensive network of potential industrial applications and service partners, the port forms “a unique location-specific platform”.
Effects for Europe
In addition, the network enables “positive transfer effects in Germany and throughout Europe”. It is already closely linked to other activities in northern Germany's neighboring countries. International cooperation should above all help to link production facilities for renewable electricity and hydrogen, infrastructure and distribution as well as demand generators from heavy industry to road, rail, shipping and air transport. 
The joint application submitted by the twelve Hamburg companies as part of the EU-wide funding program “Important Projects of Common European Interest (IPCEI)” includes nine complementary projects to achieve this goal – all in the Hamburg port area:
HGHH – Hamburg Green Hydrogen Hub
The companies Shell, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Vattenfall and the municipal company Hitze Hamburg plan to jointly produce hydrogen from wind and solar energy at the Hamburg-Moorburg power plant site and use it in the surrounding area. In addition to building a scalable electrolyser with an output power of 100 megawatts, the site is planned to be further developed into a “Green Energy Hub”.
Airbus SAS
With the ZEROe aircraft concept, Airbus wants to reduce aviation emissions caused by hydrogen-powered commercial aircraft. The concept “Hydrogen for the infrastructure and production of aviation in Northern Germany” (WIPLiN) stipulates, among other things, that the expansion of the hydrogen infrastructure is also promoted.
ArcelorMittal SA
By producing green steel, the company wants to enable the reduction of CO2 emissions in the supply chain in the “H2 for Hamburg” (H2H) project. The Hamburg plant is to be converted to climate-neutral steel production in four steps by 2030. This includes the construction of a hydrogen-powered demonstration plant for the direct reduction of iron ore (H2First) as well as the technological retrofitting of the existing direct reduction plant (H2Ready) in order to replace the use of natural gas with green hydrogen in the long term.
Gasnetz Hamburg GmbH
By 2030, the company is planning to build a secure supply infrastructure for the hydrogen needs of local industry in a nationwide and European network with the “Hamburg Hydrogen Industry Network” (HH-WIN) project. The hydrogen infrastructure is the central link between all joint projects. The project should be “developed and implemented in a needs-oriented and step-by-step manner”.
Greenplug GmbH
With the “H2 Push Boat” (H2SB) project, the company has designed an emission-free push boat with a thrust capacity of 2.400 tons at a speed of ten knots. The energy system consists of pressurized hydrogen storage and fuel cells with buffer batteries that drive the ship's propellers via a direct current network. In the first step of the project, Greenplug plans to build and test a push boat. Nine more pushboats will then be built and chartered out.
Hamburg Port and Logistics AG
With the “Hydrogen Logistics Applications & Distribution” (H2LOAD) project, Hamburger Hafen und Logistik AG (HHLA) is planning to put various heavy-duty equipment (portal trucks, trucks, tractors, forklifts, empty container stackers and a shunting locomotive) into operation with fuel cell drives.
Hamburg Port Authority AöR
With the Hydrogen Port Applications (HyPA) project, the Hamburg Port Authority (HPA), as a provider of infrastructure for roads, rails and waterways in the Port of Hamburg, is setting two different priorities: the provision of hydrogen filling stations for locomotives, ships and trucks as well as the construction and use of innovative ones hydrogen-powered ships.
HADAG Seetouristik und Fährdienst AG
As an operator of passenger ferries in the Port of Hamburg, the Hanseatic city's public company plans to use emission-free ships in its fleet. In the H2HADAG project, three ships are being converted from diesel hybrids to hydrogen hybrids and two additional ships are being built directly as hydrogen hybrids.
City cleaning Hamburg AöR
The Hamburg city cleaning service is building the Center for Resources and Energy (ZRE) in Hamburg-Stellingen. With the “Waste to Hydrogen for Hamburg” project, together with the Hamburg-Holstein transport company, Hamburg Heat, Gasnetz Hamburg and Hamburg Energie, it wants to use electricity from the thermal recycling of non-usable waste materials. This electricity will be used to produce green hydrogen via electrolysis and will also charge batteries for e-mobility.
According to the consortium, financial support from the German federal government as part of the IPCEI program is required to implement the groundbreaking joint project and close the cost gap between green hydrogen and fossil applications.
Photo above
Shell, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Vattenfall and Kommunalwärme Hamburg GmbH want to build an electrolyser with an output of 100 megawatts at the Hamburg-Moorburg power plant site. / © Vattenfall
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Hydrogen network Hamburg / ©wärme Hamburg
