The companies Bayerngas GmbH, bayernets GmbH, BAYERNOIL Raffineriegesellschaft mbH, Energienetze Bayern GmbH & Co. KG, Gunvor Raffinerie Ingolstadt GmbH, Stadtwerke Ingolstadt Energie GmbH, Stadtwerke Ingolstadt Netze GmbH, and AUDI AG, under the scientific supervision of Forschungsgesellschaft für Energiewirtschaft mbH (FfE), published the concept for the development of a hydrogen infrastructure in the Ingolstadt region at their final event in mid-September 2023.
The final report was handed over to Bavaria's Secretary of State for Economic Affairs Roland Weigert and representatives from the surrounding municipalities, industry and associations during the event. In his speech, Weigert emphasised: "As an economic heavyweight, the Ingolstadt region also plays an important role in the hydrogen world of tomorrow. The HyPipe Bavaria H2 cluster project shows how the development of a regional hydrogen supply and thus the decarbonisation of industry can succeed. The planning status for a German hydrogen core network presented by the transmission system operators is a very good first step. The Ingolstadt H2 cluster has been taken into account accordingly. A regular process for network planning including the integration of the distribution networks must now follow as quickly as possible in order to be able to plan the further branching out into the area step by step".
Hydrogen Centre H2.B: Cooperation of over 330 alliance partners from municipalities, industry and research.
The State Secretary also emphasised that the state government had placed hydrogen at the centre of energy policy at an early stage. "With the Bavarian hydrogen strategy, we were the first federal state to present a concrete roadmap for the ramp-up of the hydrogen economy in spring 2020, ahead of the federal government and the EU. Since then, we have been massively pushing the issue with many measures and initiatives along the entire value chain. Our hydrogen centre H2.B has established itself as a central player and already brings together more than 330 partners from industry, cutting-edge research and the municipal level in the Hydrogen Alliance. Bavaria is also setting the pace in the development of infrastructure. We are investing 150 million euros to build up to 50 electrolysers throughout the state. We are also promoting the construction of hydrogen filling stations for lorries and buses," said Weigert.
During the subsequent exchange on prerequisites and challenges in the regional development of the hydrogen economy, the participants - Dr Matthias Jenn (Managing Director, bayernets GmbH), Ralf Seid (Managing Director, Gunvor Raffinerie Ingolstadt GmbH), Dr Fabian Pfaffenberger (Managing Director, Zentrum Wasserstoff.Bayern), Christian Egetemeyr (Head of Division, Gas Infrastructure, Hydrogen, Energy Carrier Supply, StMWi) and Maximilian Mayer (Head of Department, Economy and Innovation, IFG Ingolstadt) - agreed on the three core aspects of the project.
- After a successful development, the project is about to be implemented as part of the German hydrogen core network. It is still important to stay in dialogue in the region and to network all actors. State Secretary Weigert suggested meeting again in six months to discuss progress.
- The concept for the hydrogen core network is in the final stages of being finalised and is about to go into real implementation, but the distribution network has not been looked at yet. The next task will be to tackle this.
- The development shows a great need for hydrogen in the region, which will have to be provided through appropriate imports. It was emphasised that the attention of politics and business must be placed on this in order to guarantee the security of supply with sufficient hydrogen in the end.
As part of the HyPipe Bavaria / H2 Cluster Ingolstadt project, a hydrogen infrastructure for the future development of the region was designed by the participating companies under the technical supervision of FfE: The already existing natural gas network, the hydrogen quantities to be expected in the future and the security of supply to be maintained were taken into account. The expected hydrogen quantities were determined together with the consortium partners via a data query on production and consumption.
Europe-wide expansion of regional H2 transport infrastructure targeted by 2030
The aim of the concept is to use the existing natural gas network by converting it to hydrogen, thereby connecting regional hydrogen producers and consumers. In order to conserve resources, the construction of new pipelines is to be avoided as far as possible. The results of the study are already being taken into account in the preparation of the new Gas Network Development Plan 2023 and are thus part of the Federal Government's planned hydrogen core network. The Ingolstadt hydrogen cluster thus represents the core for a regional hydrogen ecosystem.
Once completed, the resulting hydrogen infrastructure can be used by all interested market participants. On the one hand, H2 production plants and H2 consumers can be efficiently connected with each other and, on the other hand, the prerequisite for a fast connection to the national and European hydrogen transport infrastructure can be created by 2030 at the latest. According to the consortium's current forecast, the hydrogen infrastructure will be an essential building block for achieving a climate-neutral energy supply for the industrial, transport and building sectors in the greater Ingolstadt area in 2040. Thus, it would also secure the business location in the long term.
