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Refueling hydrogen symbol - © fotomek - stock.adobe.com

Hydrogen from wind energy

At the Brunsbüttel site on the industrial site of the chemical company Covestro in Schleswig-Holstein, a power-to-gas plant officially went into operation on August 8, 2019. The plant is operated by the company Wind2Gas Energy with an output of 2,4 MW and generates hydrogen from excess electricity from a nearby wind farm. Greenpeace Energy is the contractual partner for the new electrolyser in Schleswig-Holstein, which will convert the surplus electricity from a neighboring wind farm directly into hydrogen.

The unused energy reserves from wind power for millions of e-cars

According to BDEW, the transition network operators had to cut off electricity from wind turbines significantly more frequently in the first quarter of 2019 than in the previous months. A total of 3,23 billion kWh could not be fed into the power grid. Because more energy was generated than could be transported via the existing network capacities, the electricity is curtailed as a last measure in order to stabilize the electricity network.

The extent of the waste becomes clear when one realizes that around 6 million e-cars could be operated for this period, i.e. as many cars as are currently registered in Lower Saxony and Schleswig-Holstein. The conversion could also produce around 2 billion kWh of green gas and heat 100.000 households for a year.

Greenpeace Energy as a partner

The green electricity provider Greenpeace Energy, as a partner, takes up to 1,8 million kWh per year as the main customer, according to the supply contract and its own information. The company supplies around 24.500 households across Germany with the gas product “proWindgas”. The energy for this is now drawn from hydrogen by four electrolysers.

The plant in Brunsbüttel steps in if the electricity that is not required should be curtailed due to a high wind yield. The conversion to gas is started via a direct power line to the PEM electrolyser. Brunsbüttel has proven to be a location with permanent wind strengths. The hydrogen can be generated with the green electricity surpluses. In advance, the network operator Schleswig-Holstein Netz and the state had built a compressor and feed-in station so that the gas can be fed into the gas network as a priority.

The overall project is part of the “NEW 2017” initiative launched in 4.0. Other companies involved are the Stuttgart plant manufacturer Etogas, the car group Audi and the wind turbine manufacturer Enercon.

Energy reserves for electromobility

The above figures show that the expansion of the electricity grid should continue to have top priority. As long as more green electricity is generated by wind power than the grids can absorb, the paths for the new electricity grids should primarily be cleared through politics and public relations. So that the regulated electricity can be used better in the future, decentralized power-to-gas plants and the expansion of charging stations in the north are further steps towards sensible energy use.

Addendum

Cover picture - symbol filling up with hydrogen - © fotomek - stock.adobe.com

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N. Hawthorn
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