Stuttgart – Stadtwerke Stuttgart (SWS) is delighted to have received a further five million euros in funding for its innovative hydrogen project Green Hydrogen Hub Stuttgart (GH 2 S). The project is helping to make the energy transition efficient and economical and to make the Stuttgart economic region fit for the future. The Committee for Business, Infrastructure and Administration of the Stuttgart Region Association provided the funding for the HydroPulse Stuttgart sub-project at its most recent meeting. It is to be used to build a hydrogen filling station and to develop and supply hydrogen to another filling station in the Stuttgart Neckar Valley. Both filling stations will be connected to the planned H2 GeNeSiS pipeline. In addition, the procurement of three fuel cell transporters and the installation of a high-temperature fuel cell on the new EnergyCampus in Stuttgart-Wangen are planned.
Multi-stage hydrogen project is taking shape
The Green Hydrogen Hub Stuttgart, the production facility for green hydrogen in the Stuttgart port, is already in the starting blocks. The groundbreaking ceremony for the project is scheduled for spring 2025. Three electrolyzers will go into operation there from the end of 2026 and will produce up to 1,000 tons of high-purity hydrogen from green electricity every year. Thanks to the funding commitment, the HydroPulse Stuttgart sub-project can now also be implemented at the same time. This is because the production plant is linked to a logistics concept for supplying industry, research and development as well as two hydrogen filling stations for heavy goods vehicles and other vehicles. The regionally produced hydrogen will be transported to the H2 filling stations via the planned H2 GeNeSiS pipeline, or alternatively via trailer to other partners and customers. "With the HydroPulse Stuttgart sub-project, we are succeeding in linking the transport, electricity and heat sectors," says SWS project manager Daniel Lust. "It is therefore an ideal addition to our overall Green Hydrogen Hub project."
The overall project consists of three components: the Green Hydrogen Hub Stuttgart (GH 2 S), the H2 GeNeSiS pipeline and HydroPulse Stuttgart. The total volume of the HydroPulse Stuttgart sub-project, which is scheduled to be completed in December 2026, amounts to around eleven million euros. A total of around 80 percent of the funding will go towards the construction, development and supply of the hydrogen filling stations and their connection to the pipeline. The remaining portion is available, among other things, for the procurement of three vehicles with fuel cell drives and the installation of the oxide ceramic fuel cell (Solid Oxide Fuel Cell, or SOFC for short) on the EnergyCampus of the Stuttgart municipal utilities.
The overall project at the Stuttgart port is considered a further milestone on the way to the green future of the state capital: It includes economically viable hydrogen production including transport infrastructure in the Neckar Valley. The starting point of the SWS project GH 2 S is the joint project H2 GeNeSiS, funded by the EU and the Ministry for the Environment and Climate of the State of Baden-Württemberg. In addition to the SWS, the following are working on this: the Stuttgart Region Economic Development Agency (WRS), the Esslingen am Neckar municipal utilities GmbH & Co. KG, the Steinbeis Innovation Center for Energy-Efficient and Emission-Free Technologies (SIEET) and the Center for Solar Energy and Hydrogen Research BW (ZSW).