Ontras Gastransport GmbH and TotalEnergies Raffinerie Mitteldeutschland GmbH have signed the grid connection and concession agreements for the connection to the hydrogen grid being built in Central Germany, according to a press release dated 27 June. This means that the entire supply chain from the Energiepark Bad Lauchstädt has now also been contractually formalised.
In future, Ontras will be responsible for transporting the green hydrogen produced at the Energiepark Bad Lauchstädt via a 25 kilometre pipeline to the TotalEnergies refinery site in Leuna. The pipeline is currently being converted from natural gas to H2.
„With today's signatures, we have created all the necessary contractual foundations for the production and transport of hydrogen – from electricity for electrolysis to the production, transport and sale of green hydrogen to the contracts necessary for the technical handling of the grid connection“, says Gunar Schmidt, Ontras Managing Director of Operations and Safety. „We are delighted that with TotalEnergies we will also be connecting Germany's first customer to the future hydrogen core grid. We can now concentrate fully on the timely conversion of the existing natural gas pipeline to hydrogen. The refinery should be able to use hydrogen from our pipeline for the first time as early as the 4th quarter of 2025.“
Construction of new plants necessary
The contracts stipulate the technological and commercial conditions and regulations – such as the construction of a measurement and control system, a connection pipeline and its grid connection to the Ontras hydrogen grid – for the supply of Total Energies. The conversion of the existing gas pipeline to hydrogen has already begun. The new grid connection is being realised as part of the research project „Reallabor Energiepark Bad Lauchstädt“.
The consortium of the Bad Lauchstädt Energy Park – Germany's only real-life laboratory of the energy transition to date with a final investment decision by all consortium partners for the entire project and in realisation – consists of the companies Terrawatt Planungsgesellschaft mbH, Uniper, VNG Gasspeicher GmbH (VGS), Ontras, DBI - Gastechnologisches Institut gGmbH Freiberg (DBI), VNG Handel & Vertrieb GmbH (VNG H&V) and VNG AG (consortium leader).
Plants to go into operation in the second half of 2025
Construction is scheduled to start at the end of July. The new plants planned on the refinery site should be operational from mid-2025 together with the gas pipeline, which will be converted to hydrogen by the end of the year.
„The refinery in Leuna is working intensively on various projects to drastically reduce its carbon footprint by the end of this decade. Green hydrogen plays a central role in this“, says Thomas Behrends, Managing Director of TotalEnergies. „This project marks the first step that will allow us to import large quantities of green hydrogen in the future, replacing the grey hydrogen currently used for our processes. Thanks to this project, Leuna will gain access to the future national hydrogen infrastructure and thus to the international markets for green hydrogen.“
(Quelle: Ontras)