Turning green hydrogen into an attractive commercial product

The energy transition is also changing the energy system and therefore the energy market system that we know today. If green hydrogen is to be successful on the market, new hydrogen trading products must be developed in addition to an attractive regulatory framework. So far, however, the commercialisation of green hydrogen has hardly been tested. The consortium partner VNG AG is therefore working intensively with its subsidiary VNG Handel & Vertriebs GmbH as an associated partner to develop a viable business model for green hydrogen. With over 60 years of experience in the energy market and a broad and future-proof service portfolio in gas and infrastructure, the Group, which is active throughout Europe, is the ideal partner for this project. The business model to be developed should not only enable the green hydrogen produced in the Bad Lauchstädt Energy Park to be used by customers from 2025 and thus marketed in a way that covers costs as far as possible, but also serve as a guidepost for future developments in the hydrogen industry. It must therefore be proven that green hydrogen is not just technically but also economically feasible!

At the beginning of the project, the hydrogen produced is to be supplied to users in the chemical industry. And with this end in view, the Bad Lauchstädt Energy Park is in ongoing talks with interested industrial customers from the surrounding area to facilitate the use of green hydrogen directly on site. Here green hydrogen can potentially be used in the refining of mineral oil, the production of CO₂-neutral synthetic energy sources and in the production of fertilisers. In addition, green hydrogen can also be used to store and produce electrical energy and can therefore be utilised in a variety of ways in industrial applications.

As soon as the market roll-out begins, the Bad Lauchstädt Energy Park would also like to provide green hydrogen for users from the mobility and energy supply sectors and thus become a major supplier of green hydrogen throughout the Central Germany region.

In the transport sector, green hydrogen primarily offers solutions for long range requirements such as shipping, air and long-distance road freight transport. In these sectors in particular, there is still no climate-friendly alternative to fossil fuels. The supercooled or compressed green hydrogen can either be tanked up directly or used as the basis for further processing into synthetic fuels. This is particularly relevant for shipping and aviation.

In the field of urban energy supply, the advantages of green hydrogen are primarily in closing potential supply gaps that can arise when using renewable energies due to periods in which there is no sunshine or wind. In order to close these supply gaps in the energy sector, the surplus energy generated in favourable phases can be stored in the form of hydrogen. If necessary, this energy can then be utilised in gas-fired power plants to bridge supply gaps and ensure a constant energy supply.

Hydrogen can also help to reduce CO₂ emissions in the heating sector. By feeding it into the gas network, end customers can be supplied directly with a mixture of green hydrogen and natural gas. This concept is not new and has been used many times in the past. However, this will be the first time that green hydrogen has been used.