Energy Storage Europe – Tailwind for Hydrogen

Remarkable Number of Exhibitors and Contributions

In mid-March, Energy Storage Europe took place in Düsseldorf for the seventh time. The number of exhibitors and conference contributions from the field of hydrogen production and utilization was remarkable. While NRW medium-sized company Wystrach highlighted in its forum presentation the currently available reduction of compression efforts and costs through the use of swap bodies and high-capacity transport containers, electrolyzer manufacturer h-tec Systems presented system efficiencies of up to 74%. The EU project STORE&GO aims for an efficiency of 75% for the conversion of hydrogen into methane.

Potential of Green Hydrogen
Dutch fertilizer manufacturer OCI Nitrogen is opening up to the use of green hydrogen in the gigawatt dimension and could throttle its natural gas steam reformers to 70% of nominal capacity within minutes whenever hydrogen can be produced more cost-effectively from electricity. French energy supplier Engie is planning even higher power dimensions: in Chile’s Atacama Desert, PV electricity is so inexpensive that all of Europe could be supplied cost-effectively with green hydrogen by ship (<€5/kg). Representatives of the Department of Energy (USA) cited figures on the rapid development of hydrogen mobility in the USA, and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) was confident that hydrogen will also be produced directly in photocells in the future. BP promoted the use of green hydrogen in refineries, which only requires suitable regulatory framework conditions.

Sector Coupling with Hydrogen
Particularly remarkable, however, was the new openness of BMWi representatives regarding sector coupling with hydrogen: the importance of this is increasingly recognized and possibilities for shaping market entry are being discussed, although the blanket exemption from levies is not seen as expedient. The principle of “level playing field” displaced the previous dogma of “efficiency first.” From the scientific community (Prof. Dr. Hans-Martin Henning, Fraunhofer ISE), CO₂ pricing was appropriately promoted as an effective and efficient instrument – among other things at the side event “Power-to-X.”

Among the exhibitors were even more renowned electrolyzer manufacturers than usual, once again fuel cell manufacturers and research institutes, NRW high-pressure tank manufacturer EMS-Evolves, as well as for the first time a provider of ready-made, hydrogen-based year-round energy storage systems for the residential sector: Home Power Solutions GmbH.

The image shows the panel of the side event “Power-to-X” (from left): Hebling (Fhg ISE, moderator), Lymperopoulos (FCH JU), Diwald (DWV), Satyapal (DOE), Keller (NREL), Henning (ISE), Bree (BMWi), Harks (BP Europa SE). Not pictured: co-moderator Weinmann (Vattenfall Europe).
Photo: Messe Düsseldorf / ctillmann