Forecasts predict that the hydrogen economy in Europe will generate 5.4 million jobs and EUR 800 billion in annual sales by 2050. For its part, Germany will be investing EUR 9 billion in the development of a green hydrogen economy and, according to the OECD, the Hamburg metropolitan is one of the most promising hydrogen hubs. Against this backdrop, the port city has embarked on a landmark initiative to build one of the largest electrolysers on the site of the former Moorburg coal-fired power plant, following a Letter of Intent (LoI) that was recently signed by Vattenfall, Shell, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) and Hamburg’s municipal heat supplier Hamburg Wärme.

Stefan Kleimeier

Elaborating on this project is Stefan Kleimeier of Wärme Hamburg. “As you know, we have a coal phase-out in Germany,” he says. “The city of Hamburg, early on, tried to think of a good solution for the coal-fired power plant site in the transition towards green energy economy, and that’s when the idea of electrolysers came.” Kleimeier says that the discussion started two years back, prior to the Hamburg election, when the incumbent Hamburg mayor Peter Tschentscher came up with the idea to develop the city into a hydrogen hub. The city had a traditional powerplant suited for a gas-fired plant, he says, meaning a lot of the infrastructure required was already in place, such as a network of gas pipes, a connection to a 380,000-volt transmission network and to the local 110,000-volt distribution grid ofthe City of Hamburg that could be further utilised. There is also a move from the municipal gas network company to expand a hydrogen network in the port within 10 years; it is in the process of developing the necessary distribution infrastructure. “It took some time, but now, all four partners signed the LoI to become more detailed in erecting an electrolyser with an initial 100-megawatt capacity by 2025.” According to the municipality, this would make the electrolyser one of the largest plants in Europe.

Kleimeier highlights that this undertaking serves as a showcase of how the private and public sectors can work together and leverage their respective expertise. “We have Vattenfall and Shell, which already have a track record in Hamburg for use and production of hydrogen,” he points out. “They currently jointly operate hydrogen station in cities for transportation purposes; they were early movers and pioneers in Hamburg. As for Mitsubishi Industries, they brought to this project an international approach, and they have a track record of their own in hydrogen. What we bring into this partnership is the expertise on how to use waste heat from production processes. I think we can really make the best of it, because out of this 100-megawatt electrolysis, we get 13 megawatts of waste heat, which is an ideal source for heating purposes in Hamburg.”

Kleimeier says that Wärme Hamburg will most likely start with providing heat to industrial sectors, considering there are a number of refineries and commodity industry in the vicinity. He adds this is especially useful, considering industries are often the ones that find it difficult to replace the use of power by natural means. The customers near the site also unlock an entire hydrogen value chain – from generation to storage, transport and utilisation in various sectors. However, he adds, there’s also strong potential to connect the site to the District Heating network in Hamburg and, in the long term, to heat the households throughout the city. “The reason for that is quite simple,” he explains, “The industrial customers close by don’t need such a long pipe connection. When you need to connect to District Heating of the city further away, you need higher investments to make the connection, and it makes more sense when you have higher capacity installed.” Kleinmeier adds that the 100-megawatt target could be just the starting point, as the electrolyser is scalable, and there is potential for much more electrolysis happening than initially planned.

Kleimeier says that Hamburg is well on its way to becoming a European hub for green hydrogen, and that part of the work being done in this direction is to cultivate skilled personnel. “It can be a challenge,” he admits. “When it comes to hydrogen power and building electrolyser as well as all the technologies associated with it, there is a requirement to get the right skilled people on board. You might be aware there are different sites in Germany all competing when it comes to building the projects of common European interest, such as these hydrogen projects.Hamburg has a lot of highly skilled workers already located in the metropolitan. I think Hamburg is an attractive place to live, and therefore, I’m quite confident we would be able to attract the required personnel for the tasks we have ahead, and that’s perhaps an advantage Hamburg has.”