Producing green hydrogen. This is one of Luxembourg’s objectives for its decarbonisation with a dedicated strategy presented in September 2021. “In certain sectors that are difficult to decarbonise by direct electrification, such as heavy industry for example, hydrogen is a promising decarbonised alternative to support the progress of the energy transition,” explained then-energy minister Claude Turmes (déi gréng) at the time.
Since then, the change of government has meant that it is now economy minister (DP) who is in charge of energy. “But the strategy remains the same,” said Delles on 16 September at the official launch of the Echo-Wave project, i.e. Energy Community for On-site Hydrogen Production from Wind and Agrivoltaics for Industry Decarbonisation.
as one of the two projects selected by the economy ministry as part of its first call for projects for the production of renewable hydrogen, Echo-Wave is led by a consortium of two Luxembourg companies: GPSS and Soler (which is a 17-person company, a joint venture between Société Électrique de l’Our and Enovos Luxembourg and which is behind the creation of 14 wind farms, currently comprising 49 wind turbines in Luxembourg). It is receiving financial support from the European Union worth almost €13m, which complements the national funding granted by the economy ministry.
500 tonnes of hydrogen with two projects
Between Kehlen and Keispelt, “we are going to build a 4.3 megawatt wind turbine, and GPSS is completing the project with an agrivoltaic installation providing a maximum output of two megawatts,” said Paul Zeimet, Soler’s managing director. “Our two facilities will inject the electricity generated, without passing through the public grid, directly into a powerful 2.5 Megawatt PEM electrolyser [editor’s note: a device that uses electricity to separate the water molecule into hydrogen and oxygen through a process called electrolysis] that will produce green hydrogen.”
The surplus green electricity that is not used to produce hydrogen will be able to be fed back into the public electricity grid and used in the region. “To achieve this, we plan to set up an energy community that will enable electricity production to be shared with consumers,” Zeimet added. Hydrogen production is scheduled to start up in Kehlen in the second half of 2027.
As a reminder, the Echo-Wave project was selected along with LuxHyVal, led by Enovos, which plans to have an electrolysis capacity of five megawatts. Together, the two initiatives should produce around 500 tonnes of green hydrogen a year. Public support will amount to up to €47m, divided between investment and operating aid, with a ceiling of €30m per project.
Hydrogen also has its drawbacks
“The green hydrogen produced is compressed on site, packaged in trailers and then delivered to customers in the industry and mobility sectors in Luxembourg and the Greater Region,” says a press release. “The first potential buyers include bus transport and logistics companies, as well as energy-intensive businesses, for which hydrogen can replace fossil natural gas.”
The Echo-Wave project is expected to produce around 2,900 tonnes of green hydrogen over a ten-year period. “The use of this green hydrogen could therefore reduce CO2 emissions by 23,535 tonnes, which corresponds to around 224 million kilometres travelled by car.”
“Here, innovative ideas will be implemented in the future: hydrogen production using electricity from wind power and photovoltaics, as well as intermediate electricity storage via a battery,” Delles said. “The completion of this project will be an important piece in the jigsaw of our national energy transition.”
“Another advantage is that green hydrogen can be stored over a long period and in large quantities,” Zeimet added, “making it accessible to sectors that are difficult to electrify, such as certain industrial processes or heavy transport.”
While renewable hydrogen produced from renewable energies does not cause greenhouse gas emissions, it does have its drawbacks, as the FNR points out in a 2024 publication: “It is not a source of energy that can be drawn on easily like natural gas, oil or wind–it is only a relatively inefficient means of storing energy. In fact, it takes a lot of energy to produce. The hydrogen then has to be compressed in tanks to around 700 bar and/or cooled down considerably. And to be able to use the energy, it has to be transformed again. Energy is lost at each of these stages.”
This article in French.
