Full speed ahead with hydrogen

MAN ­Energy ­Solutions has had a stake in hydrogen specialists H-TEC SYSTEMS since March. The company develops technology that enables wind and solar power to be stored using hydrogen, opening up bright new prospects for the energy transition.

Hydrogen is a surprisingly versatile fuel: it can be used to supply fuel cells with a downstream electric motor, for example, or to produce e-fuels. It can also be admixed in combustion engines, gas turbines and gas engines. Researchers are currently looking into converting gas turbines and engines to run on up to 100 percent hydrogen. This versatility and good storability make hydrogen a promising pillar of the energy transition.

MAN ­Energy ­Solutions has had a 40-percent stake in hydrogen specialists H-TEC SYSTEMS since March. The electrolysis firm has been doing research and development in the field of hydrogen technology for more than 20 years. For MAN ES, the investment is a logical step within the framework of its corporate strategy, which aims to generate at least half of revenue with sustainable technologies by 2030. “It is important for us to be able to build and supply electrolyzers for hydrogen production and Power-­to-X systems right now, so that we already have the industrial experience that our customers expect from us when the market really takes off,” Marc Grünewald, Head of Business Development, points out.

A glimpse inside an H-TEC SYSTEMS laboratory container

H-TEC is one of the top ten firms worldwide when it comes to electrolysis using the PEM process, in which electricity is employed to break water down into its component parts, hydrogen and oxygen. Unlike electricity, hydrogen can be stored relatively easily in pressure tanks or in liquefied form. Hydrogen can be turned into methane by adding carbon dioxide and then fed into the natural gas grid without restriction. This makes it utilizable for a multitude of applications in the mobility and transport sector, as well as for electricity and heat generation. For industry, H₂ – the chemical designation for hydrogen – is also an important process raw material.

We already want to have the industrial experience that our customers expect from us when the market really takes off.

The form of electrolysis practiced by H-TEC SYSTEMS is a comparatively new technology. It is one of the so-called Power-­to-X technologies, which involve converting electricity into chemical fuels. The problem is that fluctuating amounts of energy from renewable sources like wind and solar still present challenges for power grids. Using Power-to-X processes, energy from surplus renewable electricity can be converted into another form, such as hydrogen, which not only makes it easier to store, but also enables climate-neutral fuels to be used in areas that were previously reliant on fossil fuels. These so-called e-fuels could make an important contribution to achieving the 1.5-degree target agreed in the Paris climate accord.  

Hydrogen technology can also help make the maritime energy transition a success. Whereas there are already numerous possibilities for reducing reliance on fossil fuels on land, electrification will not play an appreciable role on the high seas for the foreseeable future. “The amount of electricity required to operate large container ships can scarcely be stored in batteries. Once converted into hydrogen and methane, sustainably generated electricity can also be used in ocean shipping and so further reduce the industry’s ecological footprint in the form of an e-fuel,” says Matthias Auer (EEEFT). The purpose of the partnership is to support H-TEC SYSTEMS in the development of electrolyzers in a commercially interesting size range. Although MAN ES has been working successfully on Power-­to-X technologies, it is still reliant on partners for the first step: producing the hydrogen. In the medium to long term, all the expertise will come from a single source.