A consortium including Siemens and Austrian utility Verbund are building a 6MW carbon dioxide-free hydrogen production plant at steelmaker Voestalpine’s Linz plant in Austria.
The €18m EU-backed H2Future project will be used to test the potential for green hydrogen in the various stages of steel production, as well as integration into reserve markets for the power grid.
Foundations are in place and construction of the hall is underway. Electrolysis components will be delivered during the summer, with the plant expected to start a two-year test programme in spring 2019.
The project will use renewable energy from Verbund’s hydro plants to power the electrolysis process to produce 1200 cubic metres of green hydrogen an hour.
Other members of the consortium include Austrian Power Grid and research partners K1-MET and ECN.
Voestalpine management board chairman Wolfgang Eder said: “Construction of the new pilot plant for the production of CO2-free hydrogen is taking us a step further towards the long-term of a technology transformation in the steel industry.”
Image: Siemens
Siemens team ‘greens’ hydrogen
By EBS