BWE Industry Report - Wind Industry in Germany 2018

INTEGRATED ENERGY Green

INTEGRATED ENERGY Green hydrogen for CO 2 -free steel In order to achieve climate protection targets, green electricity must also reach the heat, transport and industrial sectors. The pressure to act is particularly great in the steel industry. For decarbonisation it would require a great deal of hydrogen generated using green electricity. Worldwide, industrial plants such as steel works or refineries consume about 500 billion cubic metres of hydrogen per year, 95 percent of which is currently derived from the reforming of coal and gas. Three research projects were recently launched on the decarbonisation of steel production. In February 2017, a consortium led by Austrian steel company Voestalpine was received EU funding for the “H2Future” project. The long-term objective is to replace the use of coal and coke in steel production with “green” hydrogen. An electrolyser will be erected at the plant in Linz in 2018, which will run on green electricity and split water into hydrogen and oxygen. Test operation is expected to start within a year. The Siemens plant with 6 MW of electrical input power generates 1,200 cubic metres of hydrogen per hour, making it one of the largest in the world. German steel company Salzgitter- Mannes mann is making similar plans at its site in Lower Saxony. In June, turbine manufacturer Sunfire installed a steam electrolysis plant with 150 kW input power and 40 cubic metres of hydrogen produced per hour. The plant has a particularly high electrical efficiency of more than 80 percent because it splits water vapour instead of water. The steam comes from the waste heat of the steel mill. The electrolyser can also be operated reversibly if necessary. This means that it does not generate hydrogen from electricity, but rather electricity from hydrogen, like a fuel cell. Over the three years of the “GrInHy” research project, the plant is set to run for at least 7,000 operating hours per year to demonstrate its technical and economic feasibility. Federal Government wants to strengthen integrated energy The German “Carbon2Chem” project is taking a slightly different approach. At the ThyssenKrupp site in Duisburg, green hydrogen will be combined with carbon dioxide from the steelworks and processed into fuels, plastics and fertiliser. According to the Federal Ministry of Education and Research, the Carbon2Chem approach could save 20 million tonnes of CO 2 per year or ten percent of the annual CO 2 emissions from German industry and the manufacturing sector. This ten-year project involves 17 partners from industry and science. The Federal Government will contribute more than 60 million euros in funding by 2025, while industry will contribute more than 100 million. At commercial maturity, industry wants to invest more than one billion euros. Sunfire GmbH has delivered the world’s most efficient steam electrolysis module (SOEC) to Salzgitter Flachstahl GmbH as part of the Horizon 2020 project “Green Industrial Hydrogen via reversible high-temperature electrolysis” (GrInHy). 28 Wind Industry in Germany

Economic report | INTEGRATED ENERGY Steel production at Salzgitter AG. Industrial use will depend on sufficient availability of affordable green electricity for electrolysis. The biggest obstacle is that electricity is weighed down with a lot more taxes, levies and surcharges compared to coal, oil and gas. The industry is therefore pushing for a relaxation of the EEG surcharge and network charges. The previous and presumably the new Federal Government is promising to redress the situation in its coalition agreement. It therefore wants to promote integrated energy and change the regulatory framework so that green hydrogen can be used as fuel or for the production of conventional fuels. The new Grid Development Plan 2030 of December 2017 takes powerto-hydrogen plants of up to 2,400 MW into account for the first time. These plants are focused on industrial sites with a corresponding demand for hydrogen. Steel sector must cut emissions CO 2 emissions mio t/year 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 Target by 2050 0 1990 2010 2030 2050 Development of greenhouse gas emissions in the German steel industry and decarbonisation target by 2050 Source: Wirtschaftsvereinigung Stahl Wind Industry in Germany 29