// Living lab H2-Wyhlen

Green hydrogen from the living lab

Since 2019, one of southern Germany's largest power-to-gas plants has been in operation in Grenzach-Wyhlen, producing hydrogen by electrolysis from renewable electricity generated by the local hydroelectric power plant owned by naturenergie hochrhein AG. The “Power-to-Gas Lighthouse Project”, funded by the Baden-Württemberg Ministry of Economic Affairs and coordinated by ZSW, formed the basis for the “ H2-Wyhlen living lab of the energy transition” with 1 MWe power.

In the living lab, the existing electrolysis site operated by naturenergie hochrhein AG and EnBW will be expanded with a second hydrogen production plant with an electrical output of 5 MW, increasing the total electrolysis capacity to 6 MW. The overall project is being funded by the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy with approximately €15 million in subsidies. Once construction work is complete, the entire plant is expected to be operational in 2026.

In this project, ZSW is researching electrolysis technologies suitable for series production – a prerequisite for the cost-effective, industrial production of green hydrogen. Using innovative materials and manufacturing processes suitable for series production. The aim is to further develop alkaline electrolysis to market maturity with the goal to scale batch sizes and reduce investment costs for electrolysers. To optimize costs, the electrodes are catalytically coated to maximize hydrogen yield for a given amount of electricity or to reduce electricity consumption and thus operating costs while maintaining the same level of hydrogen production. The galvanic coating technology is being transferred to an industrial scale by project partner Holzapfel Group. The stack prototypes developed by ZSW in the power class up to 0.5 MWel are being validated under real operating conditions.

In a companion research project, various business models for a power-to-gas plant are being investigated in collaboration with naturenergie hochrhein AG and the project coordinator EnBW Energie Baden-Württemberg AG – for example, the influence of system coupling on economic efficiency. To this end, the technical monitoring system developed by ZSW is being expanded and will be used to balance the living lab laboratory test area. Together with Dialogik gGmbH, which is responsible for social and sociological research, a policy brief analyzing risk factors for rapid market ramp-up has already been published. The associated partner DSM Nutritional Products GmbH is looking into options for nearby hydrogen utilization at the DSM site in Grenzach-Wyhlen.

The living lab laboratory is intended to lay the foundation for further upscaling of the technology: costs will fall and the market can develop more quickly in the context of the energy transition. With 6 MW of electrolysis connection capacity, hydrogen production of up to 700 tons per year is possible for regional mobility and industrial applications.