H₂ORIZON research and demonstration platform
Producing green hydrogen
50 km north of Stuttgart, at the DLR site in Lampoldshausen, a piece of the energy future has been created. Lampoldshausen is home to the DLR Institute of Space Propulsion, one of the largest hydrogen users in Europe, and, in the immediate neigbourhood, currently the largest wind farm in Baden-Württemberg. Based on this infrastructure, the DLR Institute and ZEAG Energie AG have jointly developed a hydrogen-based, networked energy system. In this way, sector coupling of the energy industry, transport and space travel has been realized on a megawatt scale.
The plant concept in the H2ORIZON project consists of two main components. One is regenerative hydrogen production based on wind energy. The polymer electrolyte membrane electrolysis (PEM electrolysis for short) has a connected load of around 1 megawatt and is connected directly to the "Harthäuser Wald" wind farm. The hydrogen is processed, compressed and filled directly into special transport vehicles, so-called tube trailers, for distribution. Secondly, a new H2ORIZON plant is being built to supply the DLR site with heat and electricity. The gas engine combined heat and power plant (CHP) with a total output of 1.6 megawatts (thermal) and 1.4 megawatts (electrical) will be connected directly to the hydrogen production system in addition to the conventional natural gas supply.
As one of the largest hydrogen users in Europe, the DLR Institute contributes its knowledge of hydrogen to the H2ORIZON project and can draw on the extensive expertise of the entire DLR at the interface to hydrogen in the fields of space, aviation, energy, transport and security. ZEAG Energie AG, the oldest three-phase power supplier in the world, covers the energy sector and is familiar with the challenges of operating renewable energy plants and power grids as well as the conditions for successful participation in the energy market.
The infrastructure and expertise of the two project partners will be made available to potential partners from industry, in particular small and medium-sized enterprises, and science. With "H2ORIZON", DLR and ZEAG want to enable new technological and conceptual solutions relating to hydrogen to be researched, developed, demonstrated and validated at the DLR site in Lampoldshausen.
