News from the construction site – The December update

At the end of the year, work on all sub-projects at the Energiepark Bad Lauchstädt is continuing according to plan. The focus is currently on carefully preparing the next commissioning steps.

Progress in gas processing

Construction work on the hydrogen gas processing facility is continuing to progress. Cold commissioning – in which the plant is tested without hydrogen – is planned for April 2026. This leaves sufficient time to carefully prepare all systems and tackle the next steps in a structured manner.

Work on VNG gas storage facility completed

An important milestone has been reached in the work on the VNG Gasspeicher GmbH gas storage facility: surface and road construction work began in October and has now been successfully completed. The pipeline connection to Elektrolyse Mitteldeutschland GmbH (EMG) has also been completed, forming an important basis for later operation. 

Construction and assembly of the electrolysis plant

Construction and assembly work on the electrolysis plant continues apace. The individual components are being installed and prepared step by step so that the plant will be fully operational in the coming months. The current focus is on completing the actual generation units—the modules. The installation of all blocks of the second module is currently being finalized.

Move to the administration building

Parallel to the technical progress, the project team moved into the new administration building on site at the end of the year. The building will also house the visitor center in the future. This will create a permanent point of contact for interested visitor groups at the Energiepark Bad Lauchstädt.

Coordination for commissioning has begun

The project is also progressing with regard to the connection to the Leuna refinery. The physical grid connection point on the refinery side is still open, but ONTRAS and TotalEnergies have already begun coordinating the joint commissioning processes. This early coordination is crucial to ensure that the individual plants can be smoothly integrated in the coming year.

With this progress, the Bad Lauchstädt Energy Park is closing out 2025 having achieved important milestones.