HyExpert: Hydrogen Region SouthEastLower Saxony

The Braunschweig - Wolfsburg region is facing a challenge that many regions in Germany are facing - structural change. In the region, the change primarily affects the industrial sector: For example, in the area of production for steel production and the vehicle industry, the transformation to climate neutrality is to succeed. Hydrogen will play a key role in this. Inter-municipal cooperation in the region has already begun in full and the players are providing important impetus.

The Braunschweig - Wolfsburg region is located in the heart of Germany. It includes the districts of Gifhorn, Goslar, Helmstedt, Peine and Wolfenbüttel as well as the independent cities of Braunschweig, Salzgitter and Wolfsburg. It thus stretches from the northern Harz Mountains in the south to the Heath in the north and forms a special economic, research and cultural region. It is home to over 1.1 million inhabitants and has one of the highest rates of value creation in the entire state.

In southeastern Lower Saxony, traditional economic sectors meet innovative industries. Coupled with a diverse research landscape, the region is a formative industrial and research location not only for Lower Saxony, but also for all of Germany.

In the automotive and steel industries as well as in small and medium-sized enterprises, the challenge of transformation is increasing, which is why the region is currently undergoing structural change and will continue to do so in the coming years. Various project partners from the region are therefore looking for new approaches to solutions for phasing out the use of fossil fuels for power generation, for the use of alternative drives in mobility, and for CO2-neutral energy-intensive production.

There are already numerous projects, companies and institutions in the region that are active in the field of hydrogen and are pioneering for the region and Lower Saxony (excerpt).

These include, for example:

• SALCOS (low-CO2 steel production based on hydrogen) | Salzgitter AG
• Coradia iLint - Fuel cell train | Alstom in Salzgitter
• Hydrogen Campus Salzgitter | Innovation network for the development and scaling of hydrogen technologies
• IPCEI joint project "Get H2": Establishment of an international hydrogen network
• Hydrogen Competence Center at the TU Braunschweig campus (research airport) | Steinbeis Innovation Center Energie+
• Green Energy Hub Helmstedt | Helmstedt Power-to-Fuel Platform: Methanol from Green Hydrogen at the Site of the Now Decommissioned Buschhaus Power Plant
• H2-Wegweiser - Energy System Analysis for the Technical, Economic and Social Integration, Storage and Conversion of Hydrogen in Lower Saxony | TU Clausthal
• Hydrogen Region North-West Lower Saxony (H2-ReNoWe) | German Aerospace Institute / TU Clausthal
• ReTraSON - Regional Transformation Network South-East Lower Saxony - Infrastructural Transformation field of action: including study on the subject of the hydrogen truck fleet | Allianz für die Region GmbH
• StaR - Stack Revolution | TU Clausthal
• Production of PEM electrolysis plants and filling stations in the district of Goslar
• Research Center for Energy Storage Technologies | TU Clausthal
• Energy Research Center Lower Saxony | Headquarters in Goslar
• Qualification of specialists for future technologies of the hydrogen economy | Institute for Machine Tools and Production Engineering TU Braunschweig
• POWERPASTE - chemical hydrogen storage | Fraunhofer Center for Energy Storage and Systems ZESS
• Technical Electrolysis | Institute for Technical Chemistry of the TU Braunschweig
• Employee qualification for H2 vehicles in the logistics sector | Allianz für die Region GmbH

Drive forward networking

Accordingly, numerous promising projects already exist in the region, but they will be linked even more closely in the future. For this project, the "Hydrogen Region South-East Lower Saxony" received funding as part of the HyLand competition as a "HyExpert" region. The federal government's HyExpert funding is currently enabling the development of a holistic concept for the production and use of green hydrogen in the areas of mobility and industry. The results are to be presented in November 2023.

Within the framework of the concept for the hydrogen region, synergies are to be better utilized in order to advance the development of a sustainable regional hydrogen economy with the numerous partners from business, science and politics who supported the region's application.

Hydrogen is to be used in the region in a variety of areas

Concept for the hydrogen region

A consortium of providers consisting of Allianz für die Region GmbH, the Fraunhofer Institute for Surface Engineering and Thin Films IST, and IAV GmbH was selected to carry out and prepare the concept with three focal points for the region.

Development of the umbrella brand / regional office:

• Development of an umbrella brand and elaboration of a structural and financing model for a regional office to strengthen cooperative relationships among the hydrogen initiatives, institutions and stakeholders in the region.

Regional value chain:

• Investigation of regional value chains in the production, transport and use of hydrogen.

Gas station infrastructure:

• To enable the development of a demand forecast, location identification and a potential expansion scenario for a refueling station infrastructure on road and rail.

Kick-off event HyExpert-Hydrogen Region SouthEastLowerSaxony

On February 16, 2023, regional stakeholders are invited to learn more about the concept at an event and to further promote this forward-looking topic in the region, e.g., by approaching additional companies and institutions. In the further course of the year, specialist events will be held on the above-mentioned areas and the results will be presented at a final event in November.

More information and contact:

For more information, visit the Alliance for the Region. To the website

In addition, Sven Pape from the Alliance for the Region presented some of the activities at a networking event of the regional hydrogen networks:

Alliance for the region

E-mail: sven.pape@allianz-fuer-die-region.de
0531 1218 - 205