The Living Lab
Intelligent production, storage, transport, marketing and use of green hydrogen
Green hydrogen plays a key role in the successful implementation of the energy transition. Produced by electrolysis using renewable electricity, it is environmentally friendly, easy to store and, by balancing weather-related fluctuations in solar and wind power generation as well as seasonal demand fluctuations and covering peak loads, enables efficient sector coupling. In addition, it can be used in a wide variety of ways: whether in electricity or heat supply, in mobility, or in the chemical industry. However, the development of a global hydrogen economy is still only at the beginning. This is precisely where Energiepark Bad Lauchstädt comes in.
Energiepark Bad Lauchstädt is a large-scale real-world laboratory for the intelligent production of green hydrogen, as well as its storage, transport, marketing and use. As a real-world laboratory for the energy transition, the entire value chain of green hydrogen is being tested for the first time on an industrial scale. Using a large-scale electrolysis plant of up to 30 MW and renewable electricity from a nearby wind farm, green hydrogen is produced. Temporarily stored in a salt cavern created specifically for this purpose, the green hydrogen can be fed into the hydrogen network of the chemical industry based in Central Germany via a converted gas pipeline and, in the longer term, used for urban mobility solutions. In this way, the real-world laboratory helps to research these future technologies around green hydrogen and bring them to market maturity—for a technologically strong and future-oriented hydrogen region in Central Germany and successful sector coupling throughout the Federal Republic of Germany.
Project status
After the project officially started in September 2021 with the handover of the funding approval notice, planning and permitting were the focus in the first project phase. This first phase was completed with a positive final investment decision (FID) by the consortium partners. The second project phase, launched in June 2023 and focused on construction, was publicly initiated with the first groundbreaking ceremony in the presence of the Minister-Presidents of Saxony and Saxony-Anhalt. In May 2024, the construction of the eight wind turbines was already completed, and the converted transport pipeline was successfully commissioned in April 2025. The gradual commissioning of the electrolysis plant has been underway since the end of 2025.
Contact Person
Cornelia Müller-Pagel
Spokesperson for the
consortium and
Head of Green Gases
VNG AG
Project timeline
Project funding
With a total project volume of around €210 million, investment is being made in the future of the hydrogen region in Central Germany and research into sector coupling is being actively advanced. As a “Real-World Laboratory for the Energy Transition”, the vast majority of the project components are funded under the 7th Energy Research Programme of the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy (BMWE) with around €44 million from federal funds. In addition, the seven consortium partners are contributing a good €160 million to the real-world laboratory as their own share.
An additional €75 million is being invested in the Energiepark Bad Lauchstädt wind farm by Terrawatt Planungsgesellschaft mbH. This major investment is therefore a key building block for secure and sustainable energy supply in Central Germany.
Alliance of experienced partners with proven expertise
Terrawatt Planungsgesellschaft mbH has been developing and delivering turnkey projects in wind power and photovoltaics for more than 25 years. Many years of experience as a planner, investor, operator and operations manager make it possible to support full project delivery—from site search through to turnkey handover of the facilities—from every perspective and to shape the individual project phases with in-house expertise. In addition, the company operates nationally and internationally as a service provider and technical consultant and can draw on extensive experience from more than 300 projects with over 1,500 wind turbines.
Uniper is an international energy company headquartered in Düsseldorf with activities in more than 40 countries. With around 7,000 employees, the company makes an important contribution to security of supply in Europe, particularly in its core markets of Germany, the United Kingdom, Sweden and the Netherlands. Uniper’s activities include power generation in Europe, global energy trading and a broad gas portfolio. The gas portfolio is being gradually expanded to include green gases such as hydrogen and biomethane, with the aim of long-term conversion. As a hydrogen pioneer, Uniper is active worldwide across the entire value chain and is implementing projects to make hydrogen a cornerstone of energy supply.
The VNG Handel & Vertrieb GmbH (VNG H&V), headquartered in Leipzig, supplies domestic and international trading companies, distributors, municipal utilities, power plant operators and industrial customers reliably and flexibly with natural gas. Innovative products, a wide range of services and tailored concepts for environmentally friendly energy supply provide comprehensive support for implementing the energy transition. With sales offices throughout Germany and in neighbouring countries, shareholdings and business contacts across large parts of Europe, and as a company of VNG AG, VNG Handel & Vertrieb GmbH is always close to its customers and well positioned internationally.
VNG Gasspeicher GmbH (VGS) is Germany’s third-largest storage operator, with currently around 2.2 billion cubic metres of usable storage capacity. As a wholly owned subsidiary of VNG AG headquartered in Leipzig, VGS has almost 50 years of experience in constructing and operating underground gas storage facilities and the associated technological processes. VGS’s core business is operating storage facilities and marketing storage capacities. In addition, VGS acts as technical operator for third-party storage facilities and provides engineering services for its customers in plant construction and metering technology.
ONTRAS Gastransport GmbH is a supra-regional transmission system operator within the European gas transport system, headquartered in Leipzig. For customer gas transport, ONTRAS operates Germany’s second-longest long-distance gas network with more than 7,500 km of pipeline and around 450 interconnection points. As a reliable partner, the company brings together the interests of transport customers, traders, regional network operators and producers of renewable gases. 22 biogas plants and two power-to-gas plants feed green gases (biomethane, synthetic methane or hydrogen) into the ONTRAS network.
DBI – Gastechnologisches Institut gGmbH Freiberg is a research institution of the DVGW German Technical and Scientific Association for Gas and Water (Deutsche Vereinigung des Gas- und Wasserfaches e.V.). In numerous projects, it researches the entire supply chain of gaseous energy carriers. Since 2005, projects on integrating green hydrogen have been carried out. Its experience ranges from underground gas storage and transport through to hydrogen utilisation technologies in industry and households.
VNG is a group of companies active across Europe with more than 20 subsidiaries and around 1,600 employees. Headquartered in Leipzig, the group stands for secure gas supply in Germany as a gas importer and wholesaler as well as an operator of critical gas infrastructure. With its “VNG 2030+” strategy, VNG is also pursuing an ambitious path for scaling up renewable and decarbonised gases such as biogas and hydrogen, thereby paving the way towards a sustainable, secure and, in the long term, climate-neutral energy system of the future.
BMWE as sponsor of the Living Lab for the Energy Transition
As a Living Lab for the Energy Transition, Energiepark Bad Lauchstädt is funded by the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy (BMWE). Under the Federal Government’s 7th Energy Research Programme, the BMWE supports companies and research institutions such as Energiepark Bad Lauchstädt that develop new technologies and solutions for the energy transition and implement them under real conditions and at industrial scale. The Living Labs for the Energy Transition are intended to serve as a link between technology development and market penetration, accelerating the transfer from research to market.
HYPOS – a strong partner of Energiepark Bad Lauchstädt
Energiepark Bad Lauchstädt builds on the preliminary work of several research projects carried out as part of the activities of HYPOS e.V. Funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF), cross-project consortia within the HYPOS network are researching innovation potential—from power provision to the production, storage, distribution and use of green hydrogen—in the fields of chemicals, refineries, mobility and energy supply. Together, more than 140 HYPOS members are pursuing the goal of establishing a cross-sector green hydrogen economy in the Central Germany hydrogen region.