An electrolysis plant for green hydrogen is being built at the site of the former Moorburg coal-fired power plant in the port of Hamburg.
The project company Hamburg Green Hydrogen Hub (HGHH), consisting of Hamburger Energiewerke and Luxcara, has commissioned Siemens Energy to supply and install the 100 MW electrolyser.
The electrolyser consists of six individual units and construction work is due to start next year. HGHH plans to start commercial operation in 2027 – from then on, 10,000 tons of green hydrogen will be produced annually in Moorburg. In addition to supplying the electrolyser, HGHH and Siemens Energy are entering into a long-term partnership with a ten-year maintenance contract.
The so-called “stacks”, the heart of the electrolyser, will be manufactured in Siemens Energy’s new Gigafactory in Berlin. Assembly will take place at the Mühlheim site and at another European partner.
10,000 tons of green hydrogen per year in Moorburg
The selected electrolyser is based on the so-called “Proton Exchange Membrane” (PEM) technology, in which water is split into its components, hydrogen and oxygen, along a membrane using electricity. According to the company, this technology is particularly suitable for operation with renewable energies due to its flexible operation mode.
In mid-July of this year, Federal Minister Robert Habeck announced the funding of the large-scale hydrogen project by the federal government and the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg in Berlin. Shortly afterwards, Federal Minister Habeck, in the presence of Hamburg’s Senator for Economic Affairs Melanie Leonhard and Hamburg’s Senator for the Environment Jens Kerstan, personally handed over the IPCEI funding certificates from the federal and state governments at the future hydrogen site in Moorburg. The EU Commission had previously given the green light for funding for the IPCEI project in mid-February 2024, paving the way for national funding.
“A milestone for our project”
“The order for the electrolyser is a milestone for our project,” said Christoph Cosler, Head of Corporate Development at Hamburger Energiewerke and Managing Director of HGHH. Siemens is “one of the most experienced suppliers of electrolysers for the production of green hydrogen”, added Holger Matthiesen, Project Director at Luxcara and also Managing Director of HGHH.
“We are delighted to be part of the Hamburg project because it is another important step in the ramp-up of the European hydrogen economy,” said Alexey Ustinov, Head of Sustainable Energy Systems at Siemens Energy. “Without green molecules, the energy transition will not succeed.”
Preparations for the construction of the electrolyser on the former site of the coal-fired power plant have been underway since autumn 2023. The power plant will be partially dismantled to make room for the new technology. The electrolyser will also be connected to the HH-WIN hydrogen distribution network. Parts of the existing infrastructure and facilities will continue to be used in the future.
For example, the water treatment facilities and the workshop and storage building will be retained. The existing connection to the extra-high-voltage grid, which will supply the electrolyser with electricity from renewable energies in future, will be converted and relocated. Ramboll was commissioned with the FEED (Front End Engineering & Design), which is now nearing completion, at the beginning of the year.
The HGHH consortium is planning a portfolio of consumers from various industrial sectors. Negotiations are already underway with many companies.
