The Energiepark Mainz, planned for the Hechtsheim district of the city of Mainz, can go ahead, with construction set to start in the spring of 2014.
This has today been confirmed by Siemens, the Linde Group, RheinMain University of Applied Sciences and Stadtwerke Mainz at a joint meeting in Mainz which saw the appropriate agreements concluded. This finally gives the green light to this research project, which is receiving financial support from the German Ministry of Economics and Technology. After its commissioning in 2015, the Energiepark Mainz is set to make a significant contribution to the success of Germany’s ‘Energiewende’, or energy turnaround: in this pilot project, a specially developed electrolysis plant will produce major quantities of hydrogen, using energy sources including ‘green’ electricity from wind power. The hydrogen can be stored, loaded into tank trailers or fed directly into the natural gas grid, for heat or electricity. This allows the storage of electricity from renewable energy sources.
The background to the Mainz-based project is the steadily growing use of renewable sources for power generation in Germany. Photovoltaic and wind power plants often deliver electricity at times when it cannot be directly consumed.
“Further storage possibilities are absolutely essential if the energy turnaround is to make further progress,” is how the directors of the Stadtwerke, Dr. Werner Sticksel and Detlev Höhne, explain the rationale behind the ambitious project. “The Energiepark Mainz provides an innovative solution to this key question affecting German energy policy.”
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