The 52-hectare intercommunal industrial estate "Brainergy Park" in Jülich is part of the largest hydrogen infrastructure project in Germany. The "Helmholtz-Cluster Wasserstoff (Helmholtz Hydrogen Cluster) HC-H2" will help to boost the energy transition by developing the Rhenish Region into a pioneering hydrogen model region and creating 4,000 new jobs by 2030. Part of the project is an electrolysis plant with hydrogen filling, which NEUMAN & ESSER will plan and implement as general contractor together with MESSER SE for its customer, the HyDN GmbH. "The potential of structural change can be used if science and industry work together. The establishment of H2 clusters for the national production of green hydrogen is of huge importance for this, and we are therefore fully promoting this with confidence," say Stefanie and Alexander Peters, Managing Partners of NEUMAN & ESSER. 
 

The service scope includes the integrated solution from hydrogen production and compression to the filling of "green hydrogen". NEUMAN & ESSER is supplying two 5MW PEM electrolyzers, each divided into two containers, to produce 2,000 Nm3 of hydrogen per hour. The renewable electricity for the electrolyzers is drawn from the power grid on a balanced basis via a Power Purchase Agreement (PPA). Before compression, the hydrogen is buffered in two 45m3 low-pressure storage tanks. Two three-stage NEA|HOFER KTD180 diaphragm compressors are used for compression, which compress the hydrogen from 30 bar to 500 bar for intermediate storage in high-pressure storage tanks and for trailer filling. NEUMAN & ESSER is also responsible for the approval and construction planning with subsequent awarding of the building and civil engineering trades to subcontractors as well as for the installation of the plant infrastructure. Commissioning and maintenance are also part of the contract. MESSER SE, which is working closely with NEUMAN & ESSER, will supply the systems for filling the green hydrogen into trailers and the high-pressure storage tanks. The bottled green hydrogen will then be used in local transportation, both in buses and trains. "This project is the logical consequence of the expansion of our solution portfolio. We will realize a complete turnkey solution from electron and water to the compressed hydrogen molecule," says Jens Wulff, Managing Director of NEUMAN & ESSER Deutschland GmbH. In the long term, the electrolysis plant will be expanded to up to 20 MW and buses and cars will be refueled directly on site at Brainergy Park. "We have taken everything necessary for this into account in our construction planning. The plant is already being designed for future expansion," explains Project Manager Dr. Benedikt Hammermüller.
 

A Project Funded by the Federal Government
The electrolysis plant is being funded by the Federal Ministry for Digital and Transport. Dr. Volker Wissing, Federal Minister for Digital and Transport, handed over a certificate of funding of 14.8 million euros for the construction of the electrolysis system to the management of HyDN GmbH, Frank Hopfenbach and Anne Schüssler. In addition to the electrolysis system, trains powered by fuel cells (55.7 million euros), a hydrogen refueling station with 3.8 million euros and the expansion of the hydrogen infrastructure in Mechernich in the district of Euskirchen (7.3 million euros) will also be funded. "Our aim is to further accelerate the momentum towards climate neutrality in the transport sector. With our funding, we are supporting the market ramp-up of innovative drive technologies. We are providing technology-neutral funding because we are convinced that we need to keep all options open to achieve our climate targets. We need hydrogen-based buses and trains where we reach the limits of electrification. Here in the Rhineland, 17 hydrogen trains and the infrastructure required for green hydrogen as well as a hydrogen refueling station with an electrolysis plant for buses are being procured with our support. The region demonstrates how we envisage an optimal, local value chain - from the production and distribution to the use of hydrogen," says Federal Minister Dr. Volker Wissing.