Germany to begin its first hydrogen heating trial later this year after households sign contracts
Just ten homes and one local charity will take part in the 18-month pilot scheme in a small Bavarian town
Hydrogen: hype, hope and the hard truths around its role in the energy transition
Ten households and one local charity in the market town of Hohenwart, 80km north of Munich, will burn green hydrogen in boilers manufactured by Vaillant for at least 18 months “from the 2023/24 heating period”.
But the announcement of the contract signings, released by Thüga, a co-operative network of more than 100 municipal utilities, suggests that hydrogen is the future of the heating of buildings in Germany.
“Our signal to politicians: An efficient heat transition and security of supply are feasible if we use the existing infrastructure for renewable gases,” said Thüga innovation manager Béatrice Angleys.
“There is currently no comparable project in this country. We are creating a blueprint for heat supply throughout Germany."
Green hydrogen for the project will be delivered in trucks, with storage tanks feeding into the local gas network from land owned by German disability charity, Regens-Wagner-Stiftung, which will also use hydrogen for heating at its local carpentry shop.
As part of the H2Direkt project, Thüga — together with local energy supplier Energie Südbayern (ESB) and ESB-owned gas distributor Energienetze Bayern — will convert a section of the local gas network to run on 100% hydrogen.
Mathias Stierstorfer, who is leading the project for Energienetze Bayern, said the contracts signed between the customers and ESB were “an important milestone”.
“We are happy that we have found open-minded hydrogen pioneers. Together with us, they demonstrate that a climate-neutral heat supply with hydrogen works in existing gas networks.”
Burning green hydrogen to produce heat is controversial because five to six times more renewable energy would be required to produce the same amount of heat as an electric heat pump.