September 2022. After two years of virtual delegations, our study tour "Storage and Hydrogen" finally gave Chilean companies and officials from the Chilean Energy Ministry with an interest in battery storage solutions and green hydrogen, the chance to visit events and real projects in Germany first hand. 

The tour was organised by AHK Chile, in the framework of the Energy-Partnership Chile-Alemania, in order to raise awareness of innovative technologies and pioneering projects to inspire Chilean projects and adapt them to local conditions.

First Day
Our study tour started with a visit to the DecarbXpo trade fair in Düsseldorf. We received an official welcome from the trade fair organising team to our delegation, met new contacts and talked with them about storage technologies, the green hydrogen value chain and the opportunities for cooperation between Chile and Germany. Moreover, start-ups and members of the academia shared their innovative ideas in informative talks .

DecarbXpo website: Expo for Decarbonised Industries (decarbxpo.com)

Second day
On the second day we visited the RWE Campus Essen. The pilot project "RedOx Flow - Panta.rhei" currently has six RedOx Flow battery modules, which will to be expanded to 30 in the coming years. The technology can play an important role as a large-scale and medium-term energy storage in order to provide a solution to the intermittency of renewable energies.

We then learned about the hydrogen production and utilisation project in the city of Wuppertal. Stadtwerke Wuppertal is a company that produces electricity and heat for districtenergy. Part of the electricity produced from the incineration of biomass is used to generate green hydrogen through the electrolysis process. The project now has a 1 MW PEM electrolyser, a hydrogen refuelling station and 20 city buses with fuel cells that consume the hydrogen produced at the plant.

For more information about this Power-to-Heat project, please visit the website: Wasserstoffbusse: Wuppertaler Stadtwerke (wsw-online.de)

Third Day
On day three of our Study Tour "Storage and Hydrogen in Germany" we went to Hamburg to visit two innovation sites for decarbonisation and the use of green hydrogen.

First, we went to the Aurubis plants to visit a mining company, which has successfully conducted an industrial-scale test for the use of hydrogen (instead of natural gas) in the production process of copper anodes. During the hour-long tour of the plant's facilities, we learned how the company, a world leader in copper recycling, continues to reduce its emissions and how they recover and reuse their industrial heat.
To learn more about Aurubis, visit their website: Aurubis: First copper anodes produced with hydrogen

Afterwards, we were received at the Energiecampus Bergedorf of the HAW Hamburg (University of Applied Sciences), a research centre that has developed a complete pilot for the future energy system. Professor Schiefers and his team combine concepts such as carbon capture, methanisation, green hydrogen production, cogeneration, energy storage and electromobility. Rüdiger Hintze from the Hamburg BWI Ministry for Economics and Innovation explained the ambitious activities of the Hamburg region and Northern Germany to become a Hydrogen Hub.

Fourth Day
On the fourth and last day of our study trip, we visited the Erneuerbare Energien Hamburg Clusteragentur GmbH (EEHH). The energy cluster has promoted the energy transition in the North of Germany since 2010 and has more than 240 members from all sectors (public-private), and furthermore cooperates with institutions such as ProChile. Among other things, we learned from Sibyl Scharrer, who manages the International Cooperation Hydrogen project, that eight Important Projects of Common European Interest (IPCEI) with focus on hydrogen will be implemented in the Hamburg area alone.

Simon Verleger, project manager from HySolutions presented the development and management of more than 100 projects. The forthcoming "Hydrogen Technology Centre for Shipping and Aviation" will provide answers for the expansion of the hydrogen economy on topics such as "refuelling concepts", "fuel cell systems", "tank architecture", regulation and standards.

Our conclusion for this week in September 2022 ─ progress is being made, but much remains to be done. International cooperation, also between continents, is the key to rapid technological developments and more investment.

This Study Tour was organized by AHK Chile and takes place within the framework of the Energy Partnership Chile-Germany, an alliance that seeks to increase energy efficiency, promote a greater use of renewable energy, and transform the energy systems of both countries for the future.