MAN ES, Andritz Hydro agree on hydrogen cooperation

Frank Mette (left), CEO of Andritz Hydro in Germany, and Dr. Uwe Lauber (right), CEO and CTO of MAN Energy Solutions, signed a strategic framework agreement.

MAN Energy Solutions and Andritz Hydro have signed an agreement to jointly develop international projects to produce green hydrogen from hydropower.

The two companies will start a pilot project in Europe as their first collaboration. The companies want to jointly identify further projects and implement them within the German Federal Government’s H2 Global Initiative.

H2 Global is a market-based funding platform whose goal is to promote the launch of green hydrogen and hydrogen-based power to X products. The two companies have agreed to launch an initial pilot project before the end of the year to provide about 650 tons of green hydrogen by using an electrolysis output of up to 4 MW, initially for local use.

Other projects will be designed to export hydrogen. The installed electrolysis output is expected to increase up to 100 MW in the next few years, MAN Energy Solutions announced.

“Hydropower is one of the few completely climate-neutral forms of energy, which is capable of providing baseload power. We therefore see excellent potential for worldwide expansion – in new construction projects just as much as in repowering,” said Frank Mette, CEO of ANDRITZ Hydro in Germany,

“By adding the possibility of producing hydrogen to hydropower plants, we are taking the next step and also making the energy generated there ready for export and storage without restriction. Together with MAN Energy Solutions, we can open up new markets and opportunities for the operators,” Mette said.

“The economy of the future will be climate-neutral, and to achieve this it needs huge quantities of green hydrogen. Together with ANDRITZ Hydro, we want to make this resource available,” said UWE Lauber, CEO and CTO of MAN Energy Solutions.

“Hydropower plants are ideal for generating hydrogen in a completely climate-neutral, reliable and cost-effective manner. With Andritz Hydro, we have been able to enter into a partnership with a world leader in the field of hydraulic power generation, to develop these prospects together with us.”

Through H-TEC SYSTEMS, the electrolysis specialist owned by MAN Energy Solutions, the company offers PEM electrolysis technology. In locations such as Bavaria and Schleswig-Holstein, stacks and megawatt electrolyzers based on the polymer-electrolyte membrane process (PEM) are developed by around 85 specialists of H-TEC SYSTEMS to cover the hydrogen demand for industry as well as for energy refiners.