| Focus on Germany
energy transition: security of supply, noting that the NH3
splitting plant would be the first of its kind at such a scale.
“It is essential that Germany and Europe remain industrial powerhouses”, said David Bryson, COO Uniper. “If we want to achieve this and still hit our ambitious climate protection targets, we need hydrogen to power sectors such as steel production, the chemicals industry or in freight, shipping and air transport. In other words: We need ‘green molecules’ as well as ‘green electrons’. We need to get hydrogen out of the laboratory and start using it in large-scale applications and marketable industrial solutions – we should make it into a commodity and exploit its wide variety of uses. One way of achieving this is to import green ammonia and convert it into hydrogen”, as proposed for Wilhelmshaven. “Currently, Germany plans to generate 14 TWh of green hydrogen in 2030, but the demand for that year is forecast to be 90–100 TWh – the discrepancy between these two figures is abundantly clear. We will be heavily dependent on imports if we want to use hydrogen to help us achieve our climate goals.”
Commissioning of the new terminal is planned for the second half of this decade, depending on national import demand and export opportunities.
In addition, Uniper is working with its partners on a project to ascertain whether it would be feasible to build a direct reduction plant with upstream hydrogen electrolysis on the site of the existing power plant in Wilhelmshaven, as well as the required infrastructure for supplying raw materials. The aim is to produce around 2 million metric tons of “green” crude iron using hydrogen generated via wind power. Uniper is working with Salzgitter and Rhenus Logistics, the city of Wilhelmshaven and the state of Lower Saxony on this project.
Dr Axel Wietfeld, CEO Uniper Hydrogen: “One sector in which hydrogen can play a crucial role in reducing CO2
emissions is steel production.
Currently, each metric ton of crude steel produced releases approximately one metric ton of CO2
emissions. Hydrogen is the only realistic option for decarbonising this industry.” Originally, Uniper explored the idea of constructing a floating import terminal for liquefied natural gas (LNG) at the Wilhelmshaven site. In October 2020, a market test to show binding interest proved that there is currently not enough interest in the LNG sector in terms of booking large, long-term capacities for LNG regasification in Germany.
The German Federal Network Agency accepted a bid from Uniper for closure of Wilhelmshaven 1 in the second round of auctions for the closure of coal-fired power plants (along with Heyden 4). Power generation at Wilhelmshaven is expected to cease as soon as December 2021.
Uniper presented a plan for closing its coal- fired power plants in Germany in January 2020, stating its intention to close the coal-fired units at Gelsenkirchen Scholven, Heyden, Staudinger and Wilhelmshaven by the end of 2025 at the
latest (total combined installed capacity, around 2900 MW).
The Federal Network Agency auctions can enable closure dates to be brought forward. Participants in the auction offer to close a power plant at the time set out in their bid, in return for a payment of the bid value submitted by the participant. In the first auction, which began on 1 September 2020, a capacity of 4 GW was tendered, in the second auction, on 4 January 2021, 1.5 GW were tendered. The third auction, for around 2.5 GW, took place on 30 April. The last operating coal-fired power plant in Germany owned by Uniper will be Datteln 4, which has only recently started up after many delays and problems, not least with alloy T24. The Wilhelmshaven power plant was commissioned in 1976 and was “one of the pioneers of flue gas desulphurisation”, says Uniper. The plant’s FGD system, the first in Germany, entered operation in 1978. What Uniper describes as a “a reconciliation of interests” is currently being prepared for the approximately 80 employees at the Wilhelmshaven power plant.
The formation of a “residual organisation for the operation of the Wilhelmshaven power plant group after the closure of the hard coal unit has already been agreed”, says Uniper. In addition to the hard-coal-fired power plant, the Wilhelmshaven power plant group includes the compressed air energy storage (CAES) plant in Huntorf, Lower Saxony (in which the compressed air is supplied to the combustor of a gas turbine) and the fully automated Audorf and Itzehoe gas turbine power plants in Schleswig-Holstein. Uniper is working with energy service provider EWE on a plan to set up a hydrogen hub in Huntorf. Both companies have recently signed an agreement to this effect. The proposal is to generate hydrogen using wind power in Huntorf, store it there and create transport facilities to make it available to industry and the mobility sector.
“With Uniper operating a compressed air energy storage power plant at the Huntorf site and EWE running a cavern storage facility for natural gas in the immediate vicinity, the project is perfectly set up to succeed in terms of location,” says EWE CEO Stefan Dohler. In the future, it is thought that cavern storage facilities could also be used for hydrogen storage, and existing natural gas pipelines could transport hydrogen. EWE is currently gaining extensive experience by participating in various projects, for example the HyCavMobil research project on the use of salt caverns for hydrogen storage. The Huntorf site’s potential for expansion is currently estimated at up to 300 MW, with the individual expansion stages focused on hydrogen sales volume. As the project develops, one point of focus will be ensuring that the co-operating parties interact closely with hydrogen customers and their projects on site. By mid-decade, “the project may have already seen its first customers be supplied with hydrogen.”
Uniper CEO Klaus-Dieter Maubach commented: “The partnership also benefits from Uniper’s experience in constructing and operating electrolysis plants and marketing hydrogen. Furthermore, Uniper has the grid connection capacity needed to integrate the electrolysers…into the grid. The Huntorf compressed air energy storage facility is already connected to the grid via two high voltage power lines that lead to the wind-rich regions towards the northwest and northeast.” The co-operation between Uniper and EWE at the Huntorf site also offers the possibility of using hydrogen in a future CAES system. “This means we can already start making the necessary preparations for solving the ‘Dunkelflaute [darkness combined with little or no wind] problem’ in a future energy system predominantly based on fluctuating renewables”, the companies say.
Above: The Huntorf CAES plant, in which the compressed air is supplied to a gas turbine (photo: Philip Eiben)
www.modernpowersystems.com | May 2021 | 31
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