KlimaDiskurs.NRW meets with h2-netzwerk-ruhr e.V.

Since 2023, h2-netzwerk-ruhr has been a member of KlimaDiskurs.NRW. KlimaDiskurs.NRW aims to advance the energy transition in NRW and strengthen NRW as an industrial location. Members include well-known companies, associations and initiatives, environmental associations, church representatives and trade unions. The Stakeholder Initiative Future Hydrogen within KlimaDiskurs.NRW focuses on the role of hydrogen in NRW’s energy transition.

As there have so far been more PowerPoint presentations than tangible, visitable examples for hydrogen applications, it made sense to invite the stakeholder initiative to Herten—one of the few locations where both the development and production of hydrogen technology and its application can be viewed live. At the same time, the aim was to raise awareness of the new member h2-netzwerk-ruhr within KlimaDiskurs.

Under the leadership of KlimaDiskurs interim Managing Director Klaus Breyer, the stakeholder initiative met with h2-netzwerk-ruhr at the H2Herten User Center. A comprehensive programme awaited the participants: in addition to the network being presented by Managing Director Dr Désirée Schulte and the h2 cluster Herten by Volker Lindner, several practical examples were visited.

Dieter Kwapis, authorised signatory of the operating company HTVG, guided visitors through the H2Herten User Center and showed the demonstration plant for hydrogen production and reconversion to electricity based on wind power.

Dr Bernd Pitschak presented Cummins’ fuel cell production, with the highlight being a tour of the production facility. The programme concluded with a visit to AGR. There, hydrogen is produced from the energy generated by the waste incinerators and used at a high-performance refuelling station to refuel refuse collection vehicles and buses.

The KlimaDiskurs NRW participants were impressed by the diversity of hydrogen activities in Herten. At the same time, discussions on the sidelines of the site visits highlighted the barriers to further expanding hydrogen applications, which can be attributed, among other things, to abrupt U-turns in funding policy. With the involvement of h2-netzwerk-ruhr, the stakeholder initiative will also address this topic more intensively.

Caption: Dr Désirée Schulte introduced h2-netzwerk-ruhr to the participants of Klimadiskurs.NRW.