Lhyfe builds the largest commercial green hydrogen production plant in Germany

Lhyfe is starting the construction of a hydrogen production plant in the city of Schwäbisch Gmünd, Germany. This site, which is the largest green hydrogen plant in Baden-Württemberg, will be the first to supply hydrogen directly to an industrial park. It is also the first in a network of many plants that will be operated by Lhyfe and supply green hydrogen nationwide in Germany in the coming years. Lhyfe’s ambition is to become a major player in green hydrogen delivered in bulk (for the broad market) in Germany and in France by 2025. 

The project in Schwäbisch Gmünd represents a milestone in the market ramp-up of green hydrogen in Germany and exemplifies the integration of renewable gas into local ecosystems. The plant, which will use renewable electricity secured from hydro, wind and solar power purchase agreements, should be commissioned in the second half of 2024. The hydrogen will be used partly in the “H2-Aspen” industrial park and at a JET H2 hydrogen filling station. Last January, Lhyfe and the joint venture JET H2 signed an agreement for the construction of the hydrogen filling station in Schwäbisch Gmünd. The project, which is funded by the state of Baden-Württemberg and the EU, among others, thus supports a sustainable neighbourhood solution for the local industry and lays the foundation for future climate-friendly infrastructure on the site. This project, which is part of the HyFIVE (Hydrogen For Innovative Vehicles) project, has received a €6.4 m funding from the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF).

“The project demonstrates the economic viability of hydrogen solutions in the transport and industry sectors and also supports the state of Baden-Württemberg in its efforts to become a model region for the development of hydrogen refueling infrastructure.  We very much welcome the fact that the state and the city of Schwäbisch Gmünd want to implement their ambitious goals for a hydrogen economy based on renewable energies and that we are taking this step together. With the construction of the production plant, we are making an important contribution to the goals of the federal government,” says Luc Graré, Head of Central & Eastern Europe at Lhyfe.

“Through cooperations like this, Schwäbisch Gmünd is developing into a model region for the nationwide development of a hydrogen and filling station network as a central supply infrastructure. Schwäbisch Gmünd is part of the model region of the state of Baden-Württemberg and, with the completion of the plant, will then also be the largest hydrogen producer in the state. We are thus creating a basis for marketing the land in Aspen, which will enable the companies to produce climate-neutrally”, states Richard Arnold, major of Schwäbisch Gmünd in Germany.

Today, Lhyfe’s growth is backed by a solid business pipeline representing a total installed production capacity of 10.3 GW across Europe. These projects will contribute to the decarbonisation of mobility and industry with green renewable hydrogen on an industrial scale. In 2021, Lhyfe inaugurated the world’s first large-scale green hydrogen production plant linked to a wind farm in France. In 2022, the world’s first offshore pilot platform for the production of green hydrogen was inaugurated at the port of Saint-Nazaire. This makes Lhyfe the first company globally to have already started offshore hydrogen production, based on a production capacity of up to 400 kg/day. In addition to the production of green hydrogen, Lhyfe is researching the reoxygenation of the oceans.