Hydrogen producer HH2E. Interview with HH2E CEO Andreas Schierenbeck

This Gasmarkt edition has a strong focus on hydrogen. This starts with the topic of the month, an interview with Andreas Schierenbeck, CEO of HH2E, a project developer and future operator of electrolysis plants. HH2E is very optimistic about making investment decisions this year for the first plants, each with a capacity of 100 MW. Mr Schierenbeck explains why. Hydrogen is also a topic in other parts of this publication. I report on the commitment of the gas industry to become a hydrogen industry, and on the draft law for a basic hydrogen network. 

Not hydrogen, but carbon management is the topic of the story on Wintershall Dea in the section on company strategies. I had listened to the virtual presentation of the figures for the first quarter of 2023 and was quite impressed by how clearly the Chief Technology Officer Hugo Dijkgraaf described CCS as a new business area that complements the oil and gas business. Whether Wintershall Dea will be able to develop this in Germany remains to be seen. The necessary framework conditions are not yet in place. The Federal Ministry of Economics and Climate Action (BMWK) is currently consulting on a carbon management strategy. From what I have heard of the process so far, the voices calling for extreme restraint on the issue are loud.

As far as the BMWK is concerned, I think few words are necessary about the case of Graichen. Frankly, I think it is a shame that Patrick Graichen had to go. He had a very clear vision of how the energy transition could work and he implemented his vision strictly. I think he was too strict and too convinced that his own arguments were always right. Someone once told me that Arthur Schopenhauer's ‘The World as Will and Imagination’ was Mr Graichen's central guideline, and I think there is a grain of truth in that. Mr Graichen is very convinced that his plans will work out. But at least he has a clear focus. The fact that he has failed in his conviction to know what is right and feasible, even in internal decisions, seems symptomatic to me.

Dr. Heiko Lohmann
Freelancer

E-Mail +49 30 8824005

TOPIC OF THE MONTH: Hydrogen producer HH2E. Interview with HH2E CEO Andreas Schierenbeck

HH2E was initiated in 2021 by Alexander Voigt and then co-founded by Andreas Schierenbeck. The idea: to build electrolysers at old power plant or industrial sites as standardised as possible. In a first phase, with a total capacity of 100 MW each and a production of 6,000 tonnes of hydrogen. In a next phase, the capacity at the individual sites is to be scaled up to one GW. A special feature of the concept: the electrolyser is combined with a battery. I spoke with Andreas Schierenbeck about the status of the developments. 

ener|gate Gasmarkt: Mr Schierenbeck, if I understand correctly, in your planned plants you are combining an electrolyser with a battery to ensure the highest possible utilisation of the electrolyser.

Mr Schierenbeck: I see it in two dimensions. On the one hand, we want to cap the peaks of electricity production from renewable energies that would otherwise be curtailed. These hours are particularly cheap and should then be stored in the battery. This will become even more important as renewables expand, because the grid is not expanding fast enough. The second dimension is indeed optimising the operating hours of the electrolyser. It can run much longer and much more evenly around the optimal operating point. This makes many processes related to electrolysis much easier…