In Wunsiedel, Upper Franconia, one of Germany’s largest green H₂ generation plants has been planned digitally and commissioned by Siemens, demonstrating the key role H₂ can play in Germany’s energy future. Around one year after the official groundbreaking ceremony, Bavaria’s Minister-President Markus Söder, Siemens Managing Board member Matthias Rebellius and Siemens Financial Services CEO Veronika Bienert handed over the plant to the operating company WUN H₂, represented by Managing Directors Thilo Rießner and Philipp Matthes.

Up to 1,350 tons of green H₂ can now be generated annually from renewable solar and wind power in the Wunsiedel Energy Park. H₂ is generated by an electrolyzer – with a total capacity of 8.75 MW – from Siemens Energy’s latest and most powerful product line. The Silyzer 300 is based on proton exchange membrane (PEM) technology, which is optimally suited for operation with renewable energies. The H₂ will be used primarily in the region’s industrial and commercial enterprises, but also in road transport. With this amount of H₂, 400 40-ton H₂-powered trucks could – assuming a regional distance of 150 kilometers per day – drive for an entire year without emitting any CO₂. By using the H₂ generated in Wunsiedel and the related replacement of fossil fuels, annual CO₂ emissions can be cut by up to 13,500 tons.

As general contractor, Siemens Smart Infrastructure is responsible for the construction of the H₂ plant and the creation of an intelligently monitored and controlled power grid. The customer for green H₂ is the regional business community – encompassing everything from the glass and ceramics industry to transport companies, automotive suppliers and the neighboring sawmill. The H₂ will be distributed by truck trailers on a decentralized basis to end customers mainly within a radius of around 150 to 200 kilometers (Northern Bavaria, Thuringia, Southern Saxony and Western Bohemia). In addition, following the construction of an H₂ filling station at the Wunsiedel Energy Park, scheduled for completion in 2023, the regional fleet of commercial vehicles can be decarbonized.

 “With global warming, energy dependency and rising costs becoming increasingly pressing issues, real-world solutions for the future of energy are crucial,” said Matthias Rebellius, Managing Board Member of Siemens AG and CEO of Smart Infrastructure. “The Wunsiedel project is an excellent demonstration of how vision and initiative combined with the right technology and financing can drive forward the development of a carbon-free power supply.”

Siemens Financial Services is supporting the project with an intelligent financing concept and holds a 45% stake in the operating company WUN H2. Rießner-Gase, located in Lichtenfels also holds a 45% stake and the utility company Stadtwerke Wunsiedel the remaining 10%.

“Future-oriented projects need a solid financing basis,” said Veronika Bienert, CEO of Siemens Financial Services, the financing arm of Siemens AG. “In Wunsiedel, we teamed up with an external lender, the UmweltBank in Nuremberg, to implement the first non-recourse project financing – in other words, financing without counter-liability to the shareholders – for such a plant in Germany and thus demonstrate the project’s economic feasibility.”

In Wunsiedel, the energy transition is already a reality. The energy used by the community of 10,000 is 100% climate neutral. Wunsiedel also generates its own electricity and heating. The H₂ generation plant will be linked to Siemens’ existing battery storage facility and with neighboring industrial enterprises, which can use – for example – its waste heat or the oxygen split off during electrolysis. H₂ also plays a major role in Germany’s decarbonization strategy to make transportation, steel production and the chemical industry carbon-neutral, since it can be used to implement many processes previously dependent on fossil fuels, without releasing CO₂ in the reconversion into energy. H₂ is also an important storage provider for renewable energies. By 2030, 10 MMtpy of green H₂ are to be generated in the European Union alone.

With the commissioning of the hydrogen generation plant, the commercial production of the energy source H₂ in Wunsiedel will begin. Talks regarding the expansion of the plant’s capacity to 17.5 MW are already underway.