
German engineering giant Siemens has started operations at the world’s largest electrolysis plant in Mainz, Germany, designed to store excess wind power in hydrogen for use in cars.
Siemens’ electrolysis plant in Mainz is based on Proton Exchange Membrane (PEM) technology, which allows the capture and storage of electricity into hydrogen.
The €17m energy storage project has been developed in collaboration between Stadtwerke Mainz, Linde, Siemens and the RheinMain University of Applied Sciences.
Linde will deal with the cleaning, compressing, storage and distribution of the hydrogen generated at the facility.
The plant will be able to process up to 6MW of power, making it the biggest PEM installation of its kind worldwide and able to supply 2,000 fuel cell cars.
The project has been funded by the Energy Storage Funding Initiative and supported by German Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology.[wzslider height=”400″ lightbox=”true”]