CWT was a part of the Nordic Countries Business Delegation to Saxony-Anhalt and Saxony in the fields of Hydrogen and Smart Energy – 04 – 07 September 2023.
We were given the chance to visit designated funding projects and research centers, meet hydrogen experts and offtakers from research, science and business practice.
Some of the sites that we visited were Bitterfeld -Wolfen and their H2 village, the chemical park Leuna, Fraunhofer Hydrogen Lab Leuna (HLL), Fraunhofer IKTS and the main office of Sunfire.
Saxony-Anhalt forms the core of the Central German chemical triangle. The Who’s Who of the international chemical industry is at home here. And in Leuna, the company Linde is currently building the world’s largest PEM electrolyser.
At the Bitterfeld-Wolfen Chemical Park, partners from science and industry are investigating how methanol and methanol derivatives can be produced from waste gases and green hydrogen. The Chemical Park is already cooperating with the Norwegian company “Statkraft”. Nobian (formerly Axo Nobell) is the first company in Germany to supply green hydrogen from chlor-alkali electrolysis.
The Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action (BMWK) is funding the “Real Laboratory of the Energy Transition”: At the Bad Lauchstädt energy park near Leipzig, electricity is converted into hydrogen with a 30-megawatt electrolyser. The hydrogen is transported to the Leuna Chemical Park via a former natural gas pipeline. Incidentally, the Finnish company UPM is also based here.
Sunfire Dresden in Dresden is a key company for the regional hydrogen economy: The company develops and produces particularly efficient high-temperature electrolysers (SOEC) as well as proven alkali plants and is involved in ambitious large-scale projects, such as the construction of the world’s first megawatt-class high-temperature electrolyser in Rotterdam.
The German Federal States of Saxony and Saxony-Anhalt, which form the “Mitteldeutsches Revier” are one of the most innovative and attractive locations for successful business development within Germany and Europe
