Hydrogenics has installed the 1 MW Power-to-Gas (P2G) system inside a newly constructed building. The unit produces 210 Nm3/h of hydrogen.
The plant’s owner E.ON has the option to use the hydrogen in an internal combustion engine to produce electricity, or inject it directly into the local natural gas grid, depending on operational needs.
The hydrogen compression and storage system stores up to 27 MWh of energy, and dramatically increases the overall efficiency of the wind park by tapping into wind energy which otherwise would be wasted.
The wind farm, with 28 wind turbines, can provide electricity for 125 000 households, some 15% of the Mecklenburg-Vorpommern region.
The plant is operated by the engineering group RH2-Werder/Kessin/Altentreptow (RH2-WKA). The storage project is funded by the German federal government through the National Innovation Programme for Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Technology, coordinated by NOW GmbH in Berlin.
E.ON recently inaugurated its first Power-to-Gas unit in Falkenhagen [PDF] in eastern Germany, injecting hydrogen into the regional natural gas transmission system on an industrial scale. That P2G unit also uses wind power to run electrolysis equipment supplied by Hydrogenics, to produce hydrogen from water for injection into the gas grid.
Earlier this year a European consortium established the North Sea Power to Gas Platform, to further develop the concept of Power-to-Gas for the conversion of renewable electrical power into a gaseous energy carrier like hydrogen or methane.