The e-Journal on Hydrogen and Fuel Cells
Hydrogen production in the Polish Baltic Sea
On Jan. 15, 2021, the second chamber of the Polish Senate passed a bill designed to facilitate the development of offshore wind power in the Polish area of the Baltic Sea. Once the bill is signed by the president of Poland it will be able to enter the statute book. In the proposed legislation the Polish government intends to offer exceptionally generous support to the offshore energy sector, with grants of up to EUR 25 billion.
A key objective in Germany’s hydrogen strategy is to create international partnerships with green hydrogen exporters. To this end, Gerd Müller, the German minister for international development, recently signed a cooperation agreement with one of the Maghreb countries, announcing: “Together with Morocco, we are developing the first industrial system to generate green hydrogen in Africa.
Building platforms or artificial islands to produce hydrogen near wind farms is not a new idea. In the meantime, however, a growing number of organizations have announced that they intend to turn this vision into action.
In 2019, Reinhard Christiansen, the chief executive of Energie des Nordens, or EdN, is continuing at the same pace at which he implemented his ideas last year. On January 24, he signed a purchase deal for another PEM electrolyzer, in addition to the 225-kilowatt unit, type ME 100/350 by H-Tec Systems, that was started up in October 2018. He is planning to have the new and larger ME 450/1400 device with a capacity of 1 megawatt installed in the German town of Haurup. Reportedly, this second plant will inject 3.75 million kilowatt-hours of hydrogen, produced from surplus wind power, into Germany’s pipeline system.
Reinhard Christiansen is the best person to ask about green electricity. By the late 1980s, he had already made significant contributions to wind power in Germany. In 1995, he started designing the first wind farm together with the other people in Ellhöft, a village with a population of 113. After getting the farm running in 2000, Christiansen started four others like it, set up an electrical substation and founded several companies to manage the power systems.
Johannes Schiel, formerly managing director of VDMA’s Fuel Cells working group, left the German association of machinery and equipment suppliers at the end of April. His successor, Gerd Krieger, used to be his mentor and had been deputy director of VDMA’s Power Systems department. Krieger has worked for the association for 25 years.
An energy self-sufficiency project is set to be tested on the Orkney Islands, UK: Hydrogen from wind power will be used for fuel cell range extenders integrated into electric vans to offer clean transportation. In April 2016, twelve partner companies from six EU countries were awarded the contract for this project