Hydrogeit Verlag is proudly celebrating its 20th anniversary as a renowned specialist publisher in the world of hydrogen and fuel cell technology. Founded in 2002, the journey began under the visionary leadership of mechanical engineer Sven Geitmann, who wrote a thesis on “Hydrogen as a fuel for vehicle drives” in 1997.
20 years of pioneering work in hydrogen and fuel cells: Geitmann’s passion and commitment to hydrogen and fuel cell technology is reflected in the publisher’s long-standing history: for two decades we have strived to share the latest developments, innovations and success stories as well as detailed knowledge for the entire H2 and FC sector. Our primary concern is to ensure objective and independent reporting that provides confidence and clarity to our readers.
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Outstanding Achievements: Over the years, Hydrogeit Verlag has achieved significant milestones. The HZwei magazine is enjoying increasing popularity, both in digital form and as a high-quality print version. The hydrogen blog shines with current articles and exclusive interviews. And the calendar offers a comprehensive overview of events in the hydrogen and fuel cell industry. The extensive business directory is a proven resource for companies and experts. The first-class Google rankings, which make the content accessible to a wide audience, are the result of many years of dedicated work.
A look back and into the future: Sven Geitmann, founder and owner of Hydrogeit Verlag, remembers the beginnings, when he personally put content online and even designed the first editions of his books himself.
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“I had to spend hours trying to log into the university server via modem. But it was worth it – and luckily I no longer have to do everything myself. Today, when I look back on the past 20 years, I realize how far we have come together. I would like to emphasize that this success is not solely due to my work. A great team of professionals and talented authors accompanied me on this journey. Their dedication and expertise are essential parts of our outstanding reporting and information resources.
We are grateful for the support of our readers, authors and employees and look forward to further successful years in the service of hydrogen and fuel cell technology. We assure you that we will do our best in the future to continue to provide high-quality content and advance hydrogen and fuel cell technology,” explained Geitmann.
BMV Energy GmbH is entering the market as another player in hydrogen refueling stations. The owner-managed, medium-sized company together with Score founded H2Now GmbH in August 2023 and appointed Stefan Schwarzer as managing director to advance the establishment of refueling stations with green hydrogen, particularly for commercial vehicles. In November 2023, the Berlin-based company announced that the company will be co-represented with second managing director Andrew Stracke in April 2024. Stracke was prior to this a member of the executive board at Westfalen AG.
H2Now was brought to life jointly by the petroleum company BMV and Score, a gas station operator with headquarters in Emden, to bundle the synergies of the medium-sized companies. To the BMV corporation belongs a gas station network with 145 stations of the brands Sprint and Go. According to the management, there are “already established locations suitable for the addition of a hydrogen refueling station with the help of H2NOW, to become part of the Germany-wide hydrogen station network and be supported with extensive know-how in project planning, funding, realization and operation.”
To establish a functioning hydrogen economy, the entire value chain must be addressed. It is important to keep in view the market and regulatory aspects as well as the technical aspects (standardization). At the event GAT 2023 in September in Cologne, it could be seen how intensively the industry is working on the implementation. Exciting here are, among other things, the conversion plans of the gas grid operators towards climate-neutral gases. The second phase of the GTP also shows the great interest on the part of municipalities and the industrial sector.
Dr. Kirsten Westphal made clear how the German association for energy and water economy (Bundesverband der Energie- und Wasserwirtschaft, BDEW) see the heating market of the future: “Instead of natural gas, in the future especially hydrogen and its derivatives will be employed,” said the member of top management at the event in Cologne. The hydrogen will come from domestic production as well as a considerable portion from imports. The BDEW is not worried that it will come to a deficit situation. “The studies show that sufficient quantities of hydrogen will be able to be made available,” stated Westphal.
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However, the ramp-up of hydrogen production requires the right framework conditions. Regarding this, the BDEW representative counts in addition to the acceleration and strengthening of the expansion of renewable energies in Germany also the quick notification of IPCEI projects (Important Projects of Common European Interest) for hydrogen production by the EU, which will then actually occur at the end of the year (see p. 20), as well as other supplementary funding programs to reach the electrolysis capacity target of 10 GW in year 2030.
On the import side, Westphal is calling on politicians to present an import strategy in the short term. Furthermore, the financing of import projects should also be flanked by measures such as Hermes cover (export credit guarantees) or capital subsidies.
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Establishment of a functioning H2 trading market
One aspect of particular importance, however, is to embed the ramp-up of hydrogen production in the development of a market. In each of the various phases in this, different political instruments are needed: to begin, more steering and support; later, a growing market and less support. The visualized goal is a functioning trading market in which hydrogen volumes are efficiently distributed according to market-based mechanisms.
But what characterizes the image of the targeted steady-state hydrogen market? In Cologne, the BDEW expert named a whole bundle of criteria:
Production and trade of hydrogen and its derivatives in Germany, the EU and globally in sufficient quantities
The combination of long-term contracts (particularly at import level) with competitive prices that reflect current market conditions as well as increasing spot deliveries
The trading of guarantees of origin, certificates and commodities on a uniform, standardized European market that includes an international connection
Competition for access to end customers as well as transparent price signals and sufficient market liquidity on the supplier side
A fully functional and comprehensive network infrastructure. Non-discriminatory grid access for all competitive players on the hydrogen market. H2 grid access is essentially based on the entry-exit system.
Climate-neutral hydrogen is used wherever there is demand. Demand is based on the market price.
Storage options ensure security of supply for hydrogen and derivatives and open up various ways to make the hydrogen market flexible. There is decentralized generation and purchase as well as central storage.
In all these projects are, according to Westphal, a transparent and reliable standardization as well as certification needed, to also create acceptance for hydrogen and its derivatives, which also needs a stable regulatory framework.
Standardization of particular importance
The establishing of standards is also the means of choice from the view of Dr. Thomas Gößmann. According to the Thyssengas chairman, it should be borne in mind that the approval offices have had little contact with the topic of hydrogen until now and therefore have no experience in most cases.
For Germany as an export country, the agreement on international standards is of particular importance, stated Oda Keppler, ministerial director at the German ministry for education and research (BMBF), at GAT. This applies, among other things, for the quality criteria for the product hydrogen, as otherwise the international trading of it could not be done.
For the success of the hydrogen economy, it is crucial, according to Gößmann, to involve the people. “If the country of engineers succeeds in taking the people with it, then we will also succeed,” the Thyssengas chairman is certain. It is also important not to focus too much on the color principle of the hydrogen. This is hardly comprehensible for many people anyway. “We are colorblind. We’re setting up the highway. It doesn’t matter to us who drives on it,” said the grid operator.
Dr. Frank Reiners is certain that the hydrogen economy will only really take off when the entire value chain is populated. According to the member of the management board of Open Grid Europe, however, pipeline construction is of particular importance. Germany as a hub has a special role and responsibility here, as many gas pipelines come on land or come together here. “We cannot afford to do nothing,” stated Reiners in Cologne.
Prof. Gerald Linke, chairman of the DVGW, said at the opening of the industry event GAT in Cologne, “The backbone network must provide all regions in Germany with access to climate-neutral hydrogen.”
H2 core network for all regions
The German association for gas and water standards (Deutscher Verein des Gas- und Wasserfaches, DVGW) welcomes the federal government’s initiative, in an amendment to the energy industry act (Energiewirtschaftsgesetz), to establish a legal framework for the rapid approval and construction of a hydrogen core network. However, to the DVGW, this approach does not go far enough. “The backbone network must provide all regions in Germany with access to climate-neutral hydrogen, as otherwise an exiting of entire economy sectors is imminent, especially the small and medium enterprises,” said the DVGW chairman Prof. Gerald Linke at the industry event.
In a second step, transformation regulation for gas distribution grids is therefore also needed. Without an extensive conversion of the existing gas distribution infrastructure, it will not be possible to transform the connections of 1.8 million industrial and commercial customers toward climate neutrality, stressed Linke.
The basis for the transport to end customers has been laid out in the so-termed Gasnetzgebietstransformationsplan (gas grid area transformation plan, GTP) by the DVGW together with the initiative H2vorOrt. In the current second planning year, 241 gas distribution system operators have participated, a significant increase compared to the 180 companies in the previous year. Currently, the GTP covers pipelines with a total length of 415,000 km (258,000 mi) and reaches 381 of the total 401 regional districts of Germany.
The planning process with the GTP is deliberately designed to be open-ended and includes the conversion, decommissioning and partial new construction of pipelines. Considered are all new, climate-neutral gases, so in addition to hydrogen also for example biomethane. The aim of the GTP is to accelerate the transformation at the distribution grid level and, by the individual planning of the grid operators in coordination with the other stages of the supply chain, to create a coherent vision for the whole of Germany. As part of the GTP planning, the grid operators are analyzing on the basis of their specific situations on site the demands of their customers, the decentralized feed-in situation, the development of hydrogen availability by upstream network operators and the technical suitability of their networks for hydrogen.
For the first time in Germany, the conversion of a long-distance gas pipeline to transport hydrogen has begun at OGE Verdichterstation Emsbüren
Municipalities and industry are planning with hydrogen
Part of the GTP is also a survey of end customers by the respective network operators. This revealed a clear preference for the use of climate-neutral gases. Only five percent of the nearly 1,000 surveyed municipalities see no need in the long term for the use of climate-neutral gases. Of the nearly 2,000 major industrial customers who responded, more than three quarters are relying on hydrogen in the future. And 29 percent already see the use of hydrogen as an option by 2030, while a further 30 percent expect this in the coming decade.
Some current projects show that these visions are already currently being implemented. For example, mid-October at Verdichterstation Emsbüren, a compressor station of grid operator OGE in Niedersachsen, was the start of the conversion of the first long-distance pipeline to transport hydrogen (see Fig. 3). As part of the project GET H2 Nukleus, this is to establish the core for a nationwide hydrogen infrastructure. With the changeover, the participating network operators want to enable customers from industry and SMEs to connect to the hydrogen supply.
Most of the municipalities surveyed, according to the DVGW poll, are counting on climate-neutral gases in the long term
Another project started at the beginning of November in Energiepark Bad Lauchstädt with the start of the second phase of the conversion of a natural gas pipeline for the transport of hydrogen. For the technically seamless operation of the grid of the future of transmission system operator Ontras Gastransport, a pig launcher was placed in position. The following months will be preparation for putting into operation the hydrogen pipeline. For this, the construction of a transfer station as well as setting up a system for purifying and drying the gas are necessary. Once Energiepark Bad Lauchstädt is fully operational in year 2025, test transfers of hydrogen will follow, scientifically accompanied by DBI-GTI (DBI Gastechnologisches Institut gGmbH Freiberg), an independent laboratory of the DVGW.
Such projects help to increasingly address the locational advantages of the continent. At GAT in Cologne, Prof. Thomas Thiemann of Siemens Energy summed up the situation as follows: “With its large pipeline network and storage facilities, Europe has a huge asset compared to other areas. We must exploit this advantage.”
Out of the surveyed industrial customers, 76 percent are interested in hydrogen
Study: Green hydrogen not more expensive than gas in the long term
End customer prices for green hydrogen in the medium and long term could be in the range of natural gas or the current subsidization threshold of natural gas of 12 euro-cents per kWh (Gaspreisbremse). That is what the study by Frontier Economics on behalf of the DVGW determined. If total costs are compared – so costs for acquisition, building renovation and operation, – then the cost for both single-family and multi-family houses with a gas boiler powered by hydrogen, depending on building type and efficiency class, lie at a similar level to an electrically run heat pump. In the study, the total costs of various energy carriers for households as well as for exemplary heat supply solutions were compared with each other.
For the cost comparison, indicative end customer prices based on production costs were used. In addition to the prices for gaseous energy sources, the DVGW study also compares the total costs that households may incur depending on the heat supply solution. Because if the goal is to meet the climate targets, heat generation for buildings in Germany must be fundamentally changed, according to the DVGW.
The aim of the investigation is, on the one hand, to put the end customer prices of green hydrogen in relation to alternative energy sources for households in the years 2035 and 2045. On the other hand, the analysis focuses on the total costs of different heat supply solutions for two selected building types in the efficiency classes B and D. Considered are green gas boilers based on biomethane and climate-neutral hydrogen as well as heat pumps.
Overall, the comparison shows that the cost ratios of the energy sources change over the period under review. While end customer prices for climate-neutral hydrogen in Germany are expected to remain above those for natural gas and biomethane until 2035, they could reach a comparable level by 2045.
Households in Germany would therefore have to pay between 12 and 17 euro-cents per kWh for hydrogen in 2035. The price of natural gas, on the other hand, taking rising CO2 prices into account, would be between 9 and 11 euro-cents per kWh, and that for biomethane just above, at around 10 to 13 euro-cents per kWh, depending on the biomass used in its production.
After 2035, end customer prices for hydrogen could fall and approach those of natural gas. The main drivers for this include the degression of costs for H2 production and rising CO2 prices in the context of emissions trading. In year 2045, according to the study, purchase prices for hydrogen could then lower to around 11 to 15 euro-cents per kWh.
In autumn 2023 as well, the Hydrogen Technology Expo was again the event you had to be at. For the third time in a row, the British organizer Trans-Global Events Ltd was able to dramatically increase the number of exhibitors as well as visitors – which is why the trade fair halls of the Hanseatic city on the Weser (Bremen) will no longer be sufficient in 2024. The move to Hamburg this year is therefore inevitable and had been predicted early on by H2-international (see H2-international Feb. 2023).
The trend is unmistakable: More and more companies from the mechanical engineering, electrical and chemical industries are flooding the hydrogen market. Accordingly, a large number of completely new exhibitors could be found in the four trade fair halls in Bremen. Among them were numerous unknown names, but also heavyweights such as Saudi Aramco, ExxonMobil or ITM Power.
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After 180 exhibitors in the first and 350 in the second year, this time there were over 550 – in 2024, there should be at least 100 more. The number of visitors increased from 5,000 in the previous year to over 10,000.
Moving towards mass production
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Companies like the chemicals corporation Gore had explicitly “chosen this trade show in Europe” because “Europe is furthest along.” Nouchine Humbert, Global Marketing Director of W.L. Gore, told H2-international, “This is a market where we expect strong growth.” Referred to is particularly the electrolysis sector, because in comparison fuel cells need “many more square meters than electrolyzers.”
Sufficient production capacity is available to the North American company – in Japan. The production lines there are enough for another five years, asserted Rainer Enggruber, director of the division PEM/water/electrolysis products. Gigawatt announcements are therefore not a challenge for the membrane manufacturer, it was confidently stated.
New tubular reactor
An innovation was shown by the Hebmüller Group. Sales director Marc Hebmüller presented the prototype of the HydroGenMHD (see Fig. 1), an H2 generation device from One Scientific of Johnson City, Tennessee. The company Hebmüller is the European licensee of the US system developer that developed this compact tubular catalyst, in whose magnetohydrodynamic chamber hydrogen is generated upon splitting off of oxygen from water vapor.
Marc Hebmüller explained: “This innovative technology employs a unique system where superheated steam is subjected to a catalyst and intense magnetic fields generated through the MHD process. These magnetic fields induce controlled plasma dynamics within the feedstock, facilitating the dissociation of molecules into hydrogen gas and oxygen gas.”
Stack based on circuit boards
A completely new concept for the production of fuel cells was presented by Bramble Energy: a fuel cell stack based on printed circuit board technology. The British company founded in 2017 relies here on the plastic FR4, which provides the necessary stability, and copper as a heat as well as electricity conductor. Between two circuit boards is one membrane each, which means that bipolar plates can be dispensed with entirely. Instead, a monopolar plate constitutes a single cell, of which several are then stacked.
The technology readiness level Carsten Pohlmann, director for business development (see Fig. 2), puts at TRL 9, and the price per kilowatt at 100 USD. First tests in a Renault demonstrator and with a 100 kW system for a double-decker bus are already underway.
Carsten Pohlmann presented in Bremen for the first time the circuit board cell from Bramble
The next Hydrogen Technology Expo Europe will take place October 23 and 24, 2024 on the fairgrounds of Messe Hamburg. It therefore will overlap by one day with WindEnergy.
Mike Blicker will be the new project coordinator of the Norddeutsches Reallabor (Northern German real-world lab, NRL), a joint project on the use of green hydrogen in practice. To test different paths to a climate-neutral energy system, more than 50 partners from commerce, academia and politics have joined forces to form this real-world laboratory, which will be supported by the German ministry for economy and climate protection (BMWK) as well as ministry for transport and digital infrastructure (BMDV). The environmental engineer and process engineer had provisionally taken over the director function after the death of the previous project coordinator, Professor Dr. Werner Beba, and was before that his deputy. Moreover, Blicker was a research member of the NRL working groups “Wärme und Quartiere” (heating and neighborhoods) as well as “Industrie,” and he was part of the management of the HAW research project X-Energy.
Prof. Werner Beba established the Norddeutsches Reallabor, and managed it with great commitment and personal conviction. At the same time, he was director of the Competence Center für Erneuerbare Energien und Energieeffizienz (CC4E) at the university of applied sciences Hochschule für Angewandte Wissenschaften Hamburg (HAW). In February of this year, he passed away at the age of 66 after a serious illness. His successor as director of the CC4E will be Hans Schäfers, who since 2017 has been Professor for intelligent energy systems and energy efficiency at HAW Hamburg, and within the NRL was already leading the working group “Gesamtintegration” (overall integration). The environmental engineer and former energy consultant Schäfers will now also be a new member of the NRL project direction group, a position likewise held by Werna Beba.
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Beba, born in Bremen 1956, after his studies at the military academy Helmut-Schmidt-Universität in Hamburg, joined the management of the media corporation Gruner+Jahr, where he worked, among other things, as managing director of the publishing house. In 2008, the economist moved over to HAW Hamburg, took over as chair of marketing there and founded the CC4E, an interdisciplinary center that works on the system integration of renewable energies including storage and sector coupling. With his communication talents, the former media manager succeeded in getting very different people from research, business and politics interested in the necessity of the energy transition and climate protection.
The Apex Group is expanding its management team from five to six people. Starting the new year, Axel Funke will be chief technology officer, and will be responsible for the division project handling and engineering. The 58-year-old mechanical engineer has been active in plant engineering for 30 years, and previously worked for companies such as Bilfinger, Thyssenkrupp Industrial Solutions and Linde. He directed, among other things, large international projects in the energy sector and, for example, while at Thyssenkrupp Industrial Solutions participated in the planning and design of the project HyLIOS, which included the delivery of a 2.2‑GW electrolyzer to Neom, Saudi Arabia.
Apex has belonged for one year to the Exceet Group. Roland Lienau, chairman of Exceet, said: “Following the recent appointment of Bert Althaus as CFO, the management is now staffed across all areas with top personnel. Also on the operational side, Apex has hired more than 20 engineers since the acquisition by Exceet in January 2023. We are therefore equipped to realize our growth strategy.”
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