The largest green hydrogen production facility in Bavaria has been mostly idle for months. In September 2022, work on the project began in Wunsiedel, Upper Franconia.
German and European “pioneering work” is being done in Bavaria, stated then-CSU Prime Minister Markus Söder. But, as Managing Director Philipp Matthes reveals, Wunsiedel has so far produced very little hydrogen.
The background is the electricity price brake and the related skimming off of extra money from electricity producers, according to Matthes. Hydrogen and oxygen are separated from water in the so-called electrolysis plant using electricity.
The business depends on environmentally benign and frequently affordable electricity from wind and sun to make this economically feasible and enable the production of “green hydrogen.” The electricity price brake, which is based on the high prices on the power exchange, means that providers of such inexpensive electricity must plan for a revenue skimming.
The hydrogen produced by the facility, which has an output of about nine megawatts, should really find clients in the local economy. As stated at the beginning by the shareholder Siemens, this occurred in the glass and ceramics industry, with transportation firms, automotive suppliers, as well as at a nearby sawmill.
