“For the energy transition to succeed, conurbations and major cities like Berlin need a heating transition above all”
13. November 2023
Interview with Julian Mosbach, Division management Grid Gas/Water at Hanau Netz
What is your vision for the energy system of the future? What role will hydrogen play in this?
The transformation from fossil fuels to renewable energy sources is essential in terms of climate change. Hydrogen offers the great potential to store surpluses from renewable energies at high-yield times, to balance load peaks and thus contribute to Germany’s security of supply. In principle, hydrogen offers the possibility of relieving the pressure on electricity grids, which are already operating at their capacity limits in many places. For this reason, hydrogen will play an important role for industrial customers in particular, but also in the area of climate-neutral heat generation to compensate for peak loads.
What contribution does your project make?
Our project shows the extent to which the hydrogen ramp-up can be implemented at the level of the distribution grid operators. It is simply not possible to cover the forecast energy demand with an electron-based supply alone, making the project an important contribution to a green energy mix and ultimately to the security of supply and attractiveness of Hanau as a business location. As one of the first major cities in Germany, the experience gained from the project can provide valuable insights for comparable projects.
What does it take to make the project a success?
First and foremost, the project requires a reliable legal framework that enables investment. However, in addition to the conversion of existing pipeline sections, new high-pressure pipeline sections must also be planned and built. Financial support in the form of funding programmes is important for this in order to drive decarbonisation in Hanau forward quickly. Our (major) customers are open to the technology in principle, but at the same time there is still a lack of reliable information on the availability, quality and costs of green hydrogen.
Contact of Project management:
Dr.-Ing. Julian Mosbach
Division management Grid Gas/Water
Hanau Netz GmbH
Hanau Netz GmbH has the opportunity to play a pioneering role in hydrogen supply at distribution grid level due to its proximity to the Flow project. The structure of industrial customers in the urban area opens up great potential for future hydrogen utilisation. The initial plan is for an urban H2 backbone powered by 100% hydrogen with connections to the largest industrial customers and combined heat and power plants. In this way, up to 35% of current natural gas consumption can be substituted with hydrogen in the near future in order to contribute to a decarbonised future. The addition of hydrogen to the natural gas grid and the future conversion of individual supply zones to hydrogen offers further decarbonisation potential.
Further information can be found here.
