- eFarm project produces green electricity
- Uses solar and wind power that is converted to green hydrogen
Great honors for GP JOULE: The eFarm project initiated by the company based in Reußenköge, Schleswig-Holstein, was awarded the German Renewables Award in Hamburg in the “Project of the Year” category. GP JOULE is a system provider for integrated energy solutions from sun, wind, and biomass as well as a partner at the supply level for electricity, heat, hydrogen, and electromobility.
Ove Petersen, co-founder and CEO of the GP JOULE Group, and André Steinau, company manager and eFarm project manager, attended the award ceremony in the opera loft of the Altona Old Ferry Terminal in Hamburg.
The whole team joined in with great excitement in front of the screens as the entire event was live-streamed. In spite of this, the joy at receiving the award for this groundbreaking showcase project was immense: “We are delighted and very proud that our commitment and the dedication of all the project participants for sustainably developing energy systems have been honored with this award. As early as 2016, we developed our vision of a possible regional circular economy to market maturity. To see it being put into practice now and to receive this award is a great confirmation for us and clearly shows that we are on the right track. Especially now it shows that new economic systems will emerge with the energy turnaround that can combine ecological benefits with long-term economic regional value creation,” Ove Petersen comments on the award.
Expert jury crowns the winners of the German Renewables Award for the ninth time
With the German Renewables Award, the Hamburg Renewable Energy Cluster honours outstanding innovations and personal commitment in the area of renewable energies. For the ninth time, the independent jury awarded the prize in the categories Product Innovation of the Year, Project of the Year, Student Work of the Year and Lifetime Achievement. The members of the committee are Prof. Dr. Ing. Thorsten Faber from the University of Flensburg, Professor of the Department of Energy, Dr. Matthias Künzel from the Institute for Technology and Innovation, Martin Oldeland, Managing Director of B.A.U.M. e.V., Dr. Ursula Prall, Partner in the law firm Becker Büttner Held, Herbert Schwartz, Managing Director of anemos-jacob GmbH and Rüdiger Theophil, Head of the Northern Region of the Frankfurt School. The laudatory speech for GP JOULE was held by Kai Hünemörder, Director of the Centre for Energy, Water and Environmental Technology (ZEWU) of the Hamburg Chamber of Trade. He is also a member of the expert jury.
Combining regional value creation and climate protection – a true template for others to follow
The award-winning eFarm project, in which GP JOULE and a total of 19 shareholders are involved, demonstrates a completely new, sustainable value chain: Green electricity is produced decentrally from solar and wind power plants at five locations in the north of Schleswig-Holstein and converted into green hydrogen directly on-site in electrolysers. The waste heat generated in this process is used to heat buildings. In this way the electrolysis process achieves an efficiency rate of more than 95 percent. The hydrogen is currently available as a CO2-free fuel at two specially built hydrogen filling stations in Niebüll and Husum. Two hydrogen buses newly purchased by the project company will start selling hydrogen from October. These are operated by the local public transport system. In addition, the region offers a short-term potential of about 100 commercial and private interested parties who will switch to fuel cell vehicles.
“Summing all this up in a few short sentences makes it all sound very logical and simple,” says André Steinau about the project. “Many years of research and development went into it though. That’s why we are very happy about receiving this award! Such a prestigious award is a huge acknowledgement and a real incentive for our great team to continue working with dedication and commitment to make the energy turnaround a success.”
The eFarm project shows how economic thinking and climate protection can be reconciled: It combines regional renewable energy production and local consumption. This is decisive for the acceptance and expansion of the sustainable energy supply and thus also for creating future-oriented jobs and long-term added value – especially in rural areas. eFarm was also supported by the Federal Ministry of Transport with eight million euros.
About GP JOULE
Founded in 2009 based on the belief that a 100% renewable energy supply is feasible, GP JOULE is now a system provider for integrated energy solutions from solar, wind and biomass power as well as being a partner at the supply level for electricity, heat, hydrogen and electromobility. A pioneer in the area of sectoral cross-linkage, the medium-sized company group has a workforce of over 290 employees at sites in Germany, Europe and North America. GP JOULE is the winner of the Schleswig-Holstein Business Environment Award 2019 and since September 2020 winner of the German Renewables Award.
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