Bad Lauchstädt Energy Park
Real-life laboratory of the energy transition at „Bad Lauchstädt Energy park“
The goals of the energy transition have been set, and their implementation has long since begun. In the Bad Lauchstädt Energy Park real-life laboratory, the future will soon become the present: green hydrogen is produced, stored, transported and put to practical use at the Park.
The “Bad Lauchstädt Energy Park”, which officially bears the title of a “Real-life Laboratory for the Energy Transition” and accordingly receives funding from the Federal Ministry of Economics and Climate Protection (BMWK), will be one of the first projects to implement the entire value chain of tomorrow’s hydrogen economy at production scale: Here, green hydrogen is generated from wind power by electrolysis. This hydrogen will be stored in a salt cavern previously used for storing natural gas and transported to customers as needed, for example at the nearby Leuna chemical complex. Construction will begin in 2023, and the electrolyser is scheduled to go into operation on the site in 2024. The Energy Park will not only model the hydrogen economy of the future, but also make it possible to directly experience it.
A consortium has been founded for the realisation of the energy park. Several companies are involved:
- Terrawatt Planungsgesellschaft mbH
- Uniper
- VNG Handel & Vertrieb GmbH
- VNG Gasspeicher GmbH
- ONTRAS Gastransport GmbH
- DBI – Gastechnologisches Institut gGmbH Freiberg
- VNG AG
Bad Lauchstädt Energy Park wins H2Eco Award
Bad Lauchstädt Energy Park is this year's winner of the H2Eco Award as a flagship project for the energy transition. The prize was awarded on 23 April 2024, as part of HANNOVER MESSE 2024.
Key ressource green hydrogen
Around 27 million cubic metres of hydrogen will be produced in Bad Lauchstädt each year. By 2030 at the latest, the system should be self-supporting. In September 2021, the German government designated the Energy Park as a “real-life laboratory for the energy transition” and the project is thus eligible for federal funding.
Federal Minister of Economics Robert Habeck visited the Bad Lauchstädt Energy Park in August 2022. He said about the project: “An accelerated energy transition and rapid expansion of renewable energies are essential for a secure energy supply and are more important today than ever before. We must consistently take the necessary steps to reach climate neutrality. A key aspect of this is hydrogen produced from renewable energies. At the Bad Lauchstädt Energy Park, a value chain comprising wind energy, hydrogen conversion, storage, transport and utilisation is being modelled for this purpose. Such flagship projects show that the energy transition works on a large scale.”
Hydrogen in salt caverns
The central component of the energy park is the salt cavern storage facility, which can receive and store the hydrogen generated on site before it is transported to users via the H2 network. In this way, generation and demand can be separated from each other in terms of time.
Bad Lauchstädt energy park
In the future, the entire green hydrogen value chain will be tested on an industrial scale at the Bad Lauchstädt Energy Park Real-life Laboratory. Green hydrogen is produced, stored, transported and put to practical use at the Park.
