First sale of power-to-gas plant in Germany supports renewable power

ITM Power, the energy storage and clean fuel company, has won a competitive tender process, based on price and performance, for a Thüga Group project, to supply a 360kW Power-to-Gas energy storage plant. This is ITM Power’s first major commercial sale in Germany of a large hydrogen production unit based on its unique design of a self-pressurizing rapid response PEM Electrolyzer.

The unit produces 125kg/day of hydrogen gas and incorporates AEG power electronics. It will be situated at a Mainova AG site in the Schielestraße, Frankfurt in the state of Hessen. The operational data will be shared by the entire Thüga group, comprising around 100 municipal utility members.

Power to gas energy storage is rapidly growing in significance in Germany and this deployment with Thüga-Group is said to be the largest PEM Electrolyzer deployment in a Power-to-Gas application to date. PEM electrolyzers are able to respond rapidly to fluctuating renewable inputs and are able to store renewable energy as hydrogen for injection into the gas grid. The ITM Power technology is unique since it can respond in one second and is self-pressurizing up to 80bar, permitting direct injection into the German gas grid.

Michael Riechel, CTO, Thüga Aktiengesellschaft, said the natural gas distribution system could be the battery of the future. “In order to transform green electricity into hydrogen or methane we need an economic best practice. It is important for the advancement of Power-to-Gas technology to make the transition from lab to practical demonstration.”