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Powering Tomorrow’s Electrolyser Production

By January 14, 2022 4   min read  (672 words)

January 14, 2022 |

Fuel cells works, hydrogen, Enapter, AEM, Electrolyser

The construction of the Enapter Campus is progressing at a rapid pace in Saerbeck, Germany, with every day bringing Enapter closer to achieving mass production of our AEM Electrolysers.

While the result will be groundbreaking for low-cost green hydrogen production, the way it will be powered is also remarkable: The entirety of production, R&D and administration activities will be driven by renewable energy produced on site or sourced from the Bioenergiepark Saerbeck.

Fuel Cells Works, Powering Tomorrow’s Electrolyser Production

Clean energy starts at home

There will be no buying of renewable energy certificates for carbon neutrality at this production facility: at the Enapter Campus, renewable energy starts at home.

To begin with, we plan to generate 2.1 MWh of electricity from solar modules mounted on Campus rooftops – the equivalent of powering 688 three-person households (assuming 3.050 kWh/a each), or in this case, 60% of the electricity needed for electrolyser production every month.

For the rest, Enapter will draw on the power of the Bioenergiepark via a cable connection to achieve full off-grid energy self-sufficiency. Created as part of a citizen initiative for the “climate community” of Saerbeck, NRW, the Bioenergiepark is just down the road from the Campus and produces twice the amount of energy Saerbeck needs using wind turbines, solar and a biogas plant.

We’ll draw the final balance of the electricity we need from their wind power generation, but that’s not all – we also plan to take the previously unused waste heat from their biogas plant, pipe it to the Campus in the form of hot water and use this in heating our buildings.

FAT green hydrogen for power and heat

And the Enapter Campus will, of course, also feature green hydrogen!

Our AEM Electrolysers undergo Final Acceptance Testing (FAT) before being sold, so that’s thousands of electrolysers that should produce green hydrogen as part of testing each month from 2023.

This green hydrogen will be stored and utilised on-site for uses such as electricity generation with a combined heat and power (CHP) unit, potentially providing further energy for the Enapter Campus, to be used for backup power as well as in factory heating.

Its production during FAT testing also has an added benefit – the heat emitted during the electrolysis will be captured and used in winter to heat the buildings of the Enapter Campus. We’ll round out the heating of the energy concept with heat pumps to keep our team cosy.

For us, it’s important that the heat is green, not just the electricity, and this part of the energy concept underlines the versatility of green hydrogen for enabling cross-cutting energy solutions.

A new generation of industrial production

Not all of the individual components of this system are unique, but we believe the way we’re combining them is. We want to set the benchmark for zero-emission industrial production, and for this, the inclusion of Saerbeck is another component that’s equally as important as the technology.

Saerbeck is a pioneer in the German energy transition, and in addition to supplying us with fresh renewable energy for the Enapter Campus, the Saerbeck municipality also has ambitions for green hydrogen projects, appetite to take action and a highly engaged, forward-thinking population.

Put simply, it makes the perfect location for the Enapter Campus.

But in the pioneering spirit of Saerbeck, we’re not content with enabling the CO2-neutrality of electrolyser production energy supply. The energy concept is just part of a wider concept of industrial production that has zero negative impact – which we call Life Cycle Impact Zero.

Over time, we hope to introduce circular economy material flows, boost recyclability of our products and avoid any production side-effects that could negatively impact people or the environment.

Enapter plans to release more details on Life Cycle Impact Zero soon, so stay posted, but this energy concept makes one thing clear: We won’t make compromises with fossil fuel energy, especially when it comes to the Enapter Campus, our blueprint for electrolyser production.

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