Regions series: HyExpert H2Ostwürttemberg

In all of Germany is currently being felt the effects of the many global crises that have been unfolding in parallel since the early 2020s: pandemic, war in the middle of Europe, people fleeing their countries, inflation, shortage of skilled workers and uncertainties around energy, raw materials and supply chains are the influencing factors of the past years that today directly affect every place in the country more and more and with full consequence.

In order to meet this concentration of challenges, the region Ostwürttemberg has since as early as 2021 been on its way to establishing wide communal support and, with the help of a bottom-up process, to directly incorporate the populace in order to start an offensive for the future for the region. The aim is clear: Consider challenges, reveal paths to a solution, set impulses throughout the community and together define targets for the wellbeing of the region and consequently follow these as a community.

Ostwürttemberg
The German region Ostwürttemberg lies in the east of the state Baden-Württemberg directly on the border with Bavaria and comprises the two regional districts Heidenheim and Ostalbkreis. The 447,000 inhabitants are spread across 53 cities and municipalities. Ostwürttemberg is the economic area with the oldest industrial businesses in Germany. The region has continuously redeveloped itself and constantly reestablished itself. That is why it is here that an economic area with focuses on manufacturing and shipping developed, through creativity, innovation and competence. Today, the region is a patent citadel and regularly demonstrates that it is justifiably the “place for talents and patents.”

One of these goals, more specifically the number one goal, is the Hydrogen Region Ostwürttemberg. The players want to make Ostwürttemberg more secure in its energy supply. Helpful in reaching this goal is the competition from the federal transport ministry in year 2019 “HyLand – Wasserstoffregionen in Deutschland.” The region Ostwürttemberg used this competition to become a HyExpert Region after applying with a sketch in spring 2021. The application was successful in 2022, so a subsidized and transportation-focused concept was able to be developed into a full Hydrogen Region.

The Region is facing the challenge of actively shaping the transformation of the transportation sector toward emissions-free and sustainable types of drives and join it to the goal of a Hydrogen Region. The project H2Ostwürttemberg applied for aims in this whole environment to positively promote the transition in the transportation sector for the region and to support the search of the industrial sector for affordable energy redundancies.

Hydrogen – Where is the demand?
Hydrogen has been seen since 2022 at the latest, especially from industry, as an important basis for an energy-secure and resilient future. Even if the price at the moment still does not meet the visions of many companies, it was also already clear in 2022 that some companies had already established a business plan on the basis of this energy form and had left it the drawer. With the effects of the Russian aggression in Ukraine and the resulting energy crisis, more and more such plans have also been pulled out. But an exact overview was not available to the region Ostwürttemberg and its regional districts Heidenheim and Ostalbkreis. Even the chamber of commerce IHK Ostwürttemberg could not give exact amounts as to the demand.

At the same time as the question of demand arose, a long-distance pipeline operator also approached the region Ostwürttemberg and informed those responsible about future plans for a hydrogen pipeline network that would cross the region directly and only come if enough demand was reported by local companies. So it was clear: A reliable demand survey was needed.

The project was started in September 2022 via the tendered service provider EurA AG with an online-based and telephone-based survey of all companies in the region Ostwürttemberg. Result: Nearly 40 companies have estimated a hydrogen requirement of around 122,000 tonnes per year. With further projections and estimates by the service provider for other transport applications, demand from industries not included in the survey and demand to replace heating oil and petroleum as well as blending into the natural gas grid, the service provider came up with an estimated demand of around 200,000 tonnes of hydrogen per year or just under 7 TWh for the region Ostwürttemberg.

A significant proportion of demand would currently be accounted for by anchor customers from the paper and cement industries. Provided that the price of hydrogen is competitive with other forms of energy and is also needed by companies, especially green hydrogen, based on customer response. The survey also attracted attention from the state of Baden-Württemberg and was used as the basis for redesigning the outdated survey of the grid operator and to follow the example of Ostwürttemberg.

The most important finding from the survey became clear relatively quickly: These enormous quantities of hydrogen cannot be produced locally. They must rely on imports and, above all, on hydrogen pipelines. The announced long-distance pipeline, the Süddeutsche Erdgasleitung (SEL), the fourth section of which crosses the regional district of Heidenheim and has already been approved as a natural gas pipeline since 2017, is to be rededicated and built from 2032 at the latest, until then also as part of the federal core network, and bring hydrogen to the region.

Out of this came the next crucial task for Ostwürttemberg: Transporting the hydrogen from the pipeline to key customers in the region. From 2032, an H₂ distribution grid will therefore be needed that, in the best-case scenario, connects all major hydrogen consumers and important mobility solutions as well as other sector-coupled solutions.

From the demand survey to the H₂ distribution grid
A central point of the project H2Ostwürttemberg is therefore the conception of a grid-bound supply of green hydrogen to anchor customers and the economy of Ostwürttemberg. The concept is essentially defined by two parallel modules: Establishment of pipeline-based distribution of hydrogen in the region via a T-line (see Fig. 2) and connection to the SEL, which is to be realized as a hydrogen pipeline.

The SEL will enable in the future the connection of Ostwürttemberg to the hydrogen grid, via which hydrogen will be supraregionally transported to the distribution networks. The expansion stage of the SEL is dependent on sufficient H₂ demand in the region Ostwürttemberg. The demand assessment of the project H2Ostwürttemberg thus makes an important contribution to the realization of the SEL.

With the T-line, an initial concept was developed with the aim of integrating the H₂ island solutions. The regional H₂ producers and consumers of the anchor projects and the anchor customers to be supplied are to be connected via a regional hydrogen pipeline. A (supraregional) pipeline-based supply of hydrogen has several advantages. For example, a long-term economical supply will be guaranteed. Based on the designed pipeline, further regions, customers and municipalities can be integrated into the H₂ network in the future. In addition, the resilience of the region to failures or problems with energy supply will be increased.

In the next project step, the rough concept of the T-line will be validated with the relevant stakeholders, in particular with the regional distribution grid operators. The aim is to assess the basic options for implementation (e.g. construction of new lines or conversion of existing lines).

Fig. 2: Possible regional pipeline expansion – linking anchor projects and main locations

In further workshops and bilateral discussions with all project participants and network operators, the conversion or new construction options along the possible routes of the rough concept were evaluated. Finally, the new pipeline sections to be built were dimensioned on the basis of the H₂ demand per section determined in the project and an assumption-based cost estimate was prepared.

For the regional hydrogen distribution network, an 84?km long pipeline network is needed. If the rough concept is implemented in full, the investment costs amount to about 135 to 185 million euros. These further plans visualized in Figure 3, however, only represent a rough concept for a regional distribution grid. The regional distribution grid operators have made it clear in several rounds of talks that investments in a regional H₂ distribution grid cannot be made without funding from the state, federal government or EU. The parallel expansion of the electricity grids and the conceptual design of the municipal heat supply are already placing a heavy financial burden on the distribution grid operators.

Fig. 3: Rough concept for the grid-based supply of the region Ostwürttemberg, starting from the SEL

H2Ostwürttemberg – quo vadis?
On November 15, 2023, the federal constitutional court in Karlsruhe ruled that the funds intended for overcoming the coronavirus crisis may not be reallocated to the climate and transformation fund (Klima- und Transformationsfonds, KTF). The planned application of Ostwürttemberg to become a HyPerformer region on the basis of the HyExperts project H2Ostwürttemberg must therefore be postponed indefinitely. Due to the current uncertainties surrounding federally funded programs, it is not possible to make any statements regarding the amount of funding, the date of the program call, project duration or other project-related issues.

In order to drive forward the planned hydrogen projects, participation in other funding programs is crucial. Ostwürttemberg therefore relies on other financing and funding options for the planning and implementation of the individual projects from H2Ostwürttemberg and for the holistic management of the energy transition and the transformation process.

For example, the rough concept presented in Figure 3 is seeking funding from the program “Regionale Wasserstoffkonzepte” (regional hydrogen concepts) of the federal ministry for environment, climate and energy industry. The rough concept has not yet been finalized nor is ready for immediate implementation. The aim of the project is to bring the seven regional distribution system operators back together and work with the grid operator Terranets BW to develop a solution for a regional H₂ grid, starting from the SEL, which builds on the preliminary work and will then be ready for approval or implementation. In this way, the hydrogen demands that have already been compiled can be brought to the region’s key anchor customers and the future operators can search for sponsors or investors.

References:
Abschlussberichtbericht-HyExperts-H2Ostwuerttemberg.pdf

Authors: Michael Hueber, Jan Blömacher