Hydrogen has great potential for future energy supply. In order to test the use for building heating, a pilot project started on June 25, 2019 in Rozenburg near Rotterdam in the Netherlands, in which the world’s first hydrogen-powered domestic boiler is operated under real conditions.
The boiler developed in the competence center for research and development of the BDR Thermea Group in Italy under the leadership of Andrea Manini is put into operation by the Dutch subsidiary Remeha, which also oversees the project.
The project in the Netherlands is a joint initiative with the network operator Stedin, the municipality of Rotterdam and the housing association Ressort Wonen. The network operator supplies the hydrogen via an existing, regular natural gas pipeline. This also shows that the existing gas network is suitable for the transport of hydrogen. The hydrogen boiler is installed in the boiler room next to a conventional natural gas boiler in order to ensure the heat and water supply at all times.
With the development of the hydrogen boiler, the BDR Thermea Group and its subsidiary Remeha are contributing to the decarbonization of the heating system: the boiler burns pure hydrogen that was generated using environmentally neutral wind or solar energy without releasing CO2. “Sustainably produced hydrogen is an important, potentially very interesting energy source for the future,” says Bertrand Schmitt, CEO of the BDR Thermea Group. “Power to gas (hydrogen) is an inevitable and necessary technology if we want to store sustainably generated energy over a longer period of time, because in times of greatest demand, such as in winter, there is not always immediately enough wind and solar energy available. With the new hydrogen boiler, together with our fuel cell devices such as the Remeha eLecta 300, we are committed to
After the first pilot in the Netherlands, another field trial is to be carried out in Great Britain. Over 400 hydrogen boilers are to be installed there over the next two years. In this context, other network operators and building owners in Europe are invited to participate in possible further field trials in order to advance the development of CO2-free heating.
