Green Energy News | March 2024

Carbon removal park opens In Grevesmühlen

Hamburg-based Greentech start-up Novocarbo has officially opened the “Carbon Removal Park Baltic Sea” in Grevesmühlen, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. The facility removes carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and generates climate-neutral heat at the same time. Up to 3,2000 tons of carbon dioxide will be removed annually, with 6,600 MWh of climate-neutral heat generated and 1,700 tons of biochar produced (for use as a soil conditioner in agriculture among other things) in the same period. The state-of-the-art pyroloysis process to generate climate-neutral waste heat will feed into the district heating network of around 1,800 households. The latest carbon removal site is the third and largest location opened by Novocarbo to date. 

Natural hydrogen discovery in French-German border fuels green energy hopes 

Geologists from the University of Lorraine have discovered a hydrogen reservoir near the French-German border according to the Süddeutsche Zeitung. According to the report, the reservoir could hold up to 250 million tons of hydrogen – equivalent to twice the annual amount produced globally. Energy company Française de l'Energie, which commissioned the geological exploration, plans to drill to greater depths to determine the exact size of the deposit and, if successful, commence production by 2028. The result could provide a boon to Germany’s ambitious green hydrogen goal of 10 GW by 2030 to be otherwise produced through massive offshore wind energy expansion. 

Airbus opens ZEROe Development Center in Stade for hydrogen technologies

Airbus has opened a “ZEROe Development Center” (ZEDC) for hydrogen technologies at its Stade facility. The new center will accelerate the development of composite hydrogen-system technologies for the storage and distribution of cryogenic liquid hydrogen as part of Airbus’s ambitions to decarbonize the aerospace sector. Cryogenic hydrogen tank development will be coordinated with other Airbus national entities. “Establishing a composite related ZEDC in Germany strengthens our Research & Technology footprint in the country and ensures the involvement, from the start, of leading experts to support our decarbonization ambition” said Airbus CTO Sabine Klauke. The ZEDC is supported by public funding from the state of Lower Saxony and will be linked to the proposed Innovation and Technology Center Hydrogen in northern Germany. 

Plan to use rail power lines to support strained power grid

Deutsche Bahn plans to test if the power lines in its rail network can be used to support a strained power grid according to reports in Der Spiegel and Golem. The use of railway power lines could potentially provide increased capacity to transport wind energy from the northeast of the country to industry centers in the south. Insufficient grid connections caused Germany to reduce renewable energy production by over 7,000 GW hours – equivalent to 1.5 percent of domestic power consumption - in 2022 due to insufficient grid connections according to the Federal Network Agency. The rail operator will conduct testing with transmission system operator Tennet. The domestic railway operator’s own electricity grid – excluding distribution grids – covers almost 8,000 km and is mostly independent from the public power grid.

Wind power turbine output grows 25 percent in five years

Wind turbine power output has grown 25 percent in just five years according to data from the Federal Statistical Office. During the period January to September 2023, wind turbines fed almost 90 million MWh of power into the German national grid – 25 percent more than for the same period in 2018. Germany also added 50 percent more new wind power capacity in the first months of 2023 compared to the same period in the previous year. Wind power share of total electricity generation is also up, with 27 percent of electricity generated from wind power in the first nine months of 2023. 

Stuttgart start-up raises USD 95 million for US market entry

Stuttgart-based start-up Instagrid has raised USD 95 million as part of a Series C funding round. The company, which provides a sustainable alternative to fossil fuel generators used to power mobile work in a number of sectors including the construction and film industries, plans to expand into the north American market. Speaking to Handelsblatt, Instagrid co-CEO Sebastian Berning noted that there are no comparable products in the USA.