Siemens Gamesa continues to play a pivotal role in the energy transition by investing in the potential of green hydrogen to drive the decarbonization of transport and heavy industry.
• The company is developing the world’s first project capable of producing green hydrogen directly from wind, in “island mode”; it can also operate connected to the grid. The pilot project in Denmark will be up and running by January 2021 with the aim of field-testing the technology for producing hydrogen directly from wind energy.
• The project will serve as a test bed for making large-scale, cost-efficient hydrogen production a reality.
• As part of this project, Siemens Gamesa has partnered with Everfuel to distribute the project’s 100% green hydrogen output for refueling taxis across Denmark.
Decarbonizing the economy to fight climate change is one of the most urgent goals that countries and companies have set for the coming decades. Wind energy is having a huge impact on reducing the world’s reliance on fossil fuels for electricity generation, but the challenge of decarbonizing the economy requires the massive deployment of carbon-neutral fuels in other polluting sectors, such as transport and heavy industry. Siemens Gamesa is embarking on the path of decarbonizing those industries by installing the first system in the world capable of producing green hydrogen directly with a wind turbine, with no connection to the grid, i.e. in “island mode”. This represents a strategic step towards delivering large-scale green hydrogen from the mid-2020s onwards.
“Green hydrogen has the potential to be a game changer in the quest to decarbonize the power supply and solve the climate crisis. Our wind turbines are already making a huge contribution to this effort by providing clean electricity to the grid but, with the storage potential of hydrogen, we can start addressing other key industries. This is an exciting project and I’m proud that the ingenuity and commitment of our people is enabling Siemens Gamesa to take the lead. This is the future,” said Andreas Nauen, Siemens Gamesa CEO.
Green hydrogen from renewable sources is a 100% sustainable, storable, transportable and versatile fuel. It represents a massive opportunity for the green transition by driving the transformation of the energy system: green hydrogen can be produced anywhere and used in sectors that are very difficult to decarbonize, such as aviation and shipping, as well as heavy industry, such as iron and steel, chemicals and glass. Hydrogen can go a long way to reducing emissions at a national and company level.
Hydrogen is already used to power industry today, and currently accounts for 1.7% of global annual energy consumption. Just 1% of that hydrogen is generated from green energy sources. The bulk is obtained from natural gas and coal, emitting 830 million tons of CO2 per year, more than the entire nation of Germany or the global shipping industry. Replacing this current polluting consumption would require 820 GW of wind generating capacity, 26% more than the current global installed wind capacity. Long-term forecasts from various industry sources point to hydrogen growing exponentially over the coming decades as transport and heavy industry decarbonize, requiring between 1,000 GW and 4,000 GW of renewable capacity by 2050 to meet demand, which highlights the vast potential for growth in wind power.