Consortium with Enertrag receives Contract for Real Laboratory Project

Dauerthal, Germany - The German Minister for Economic Affairs and Energy, Peter Altmaier, on Friday last week (2019-07-19) named the project "Reference Power Plant Lausitz" as one of 20 selected "Real Laboratories for the Energy Transition".

In concrete terms, key technologies in renewable energy supply and hydrogen as a chemical storage medium are to be tested in the field in order to advance the conversion to a CO₂-neutral, cross-sector energy supply. In addition to electricity and heat from renewable energies, hydrogen in particular is to be made available for transport and industry, and if necessary reelectrified in a hydrogen gas turbine and a fuel cell to provide bottleneck electricity, or fed into the existing natural gas network. The Reference Power Plant Lausitz project shows the way to securing local coal jobs in the long term and to renewing Lusatia as an energy location through technological change.

Enertrag sees hydrogen as a central part of the clean energy supply of tomorrow - its production can stabilise fluctuating renewable electricity, large amounts of energy can be stored over long periods of time and trans-ported over long distances.

As an investing partner of the consortium, Enertrag can contribute many years of know-how from more than 20 years of planning, implementation, financing and operation of renewable and hydrogen power plants. ENER-TRAG has been successfully generating green hydrogen from 100% wind power in the Uckermark region since 2011.

Enertrag will now prepare the formal application for grant funding together with its partners, includ-ing the Zweckverband Industriepark Schwarze Pumpe, owner and operator of the coal-fired power stations in Lusatia LEAG, and renewable energy player Energiequelle.

Source: IWR Online, 22 Jul 2019