Hydrogen Community on Lolland
Lolland municipality has started a project on the use of hydrogen in small fuel cells for generating electricity and heat in buildings.
Hydrogen village
Hydrogen can be produced by electrolysis of water. It requires an energy source and hydrogen is therefore only CO2 neutral if produced from CO 2-neutral energy sources such as wind or solar. Lolland has several offshore wind farms with a surplus of electricity production which could appropriately be used for hydrogen production and thus store energy.
Phase 1: Demonstration plant
The first phase of the project was to test the technology in a demonstration plant, which was established on the recycling depot in Nakskov. It has provided an opportunity partly for companies to test various new components, including a new electrolysis apparatus, and partly for citizens of Lolland and visitors from everywhere to see and discuss the technology.
Hydrogen-plant - demonstration
Phase 2: Fuel cells in 5 households
The second phase consists of installing fuel
cells in 5 households in the village of Vestenskov
by Nakskov and supplying hydrogen from a central
electrolysis plant by pipeline.
Households pay the normal price for electricity and
heat and the project will pay the installation of
fuel cells, pipelines etc.
Phase 3: Fuel cells in 35 to 50 households
In the third phase, 35-50 households will participate in the project and it should be ready for display in 2009. The perspective will be to supply all households in the village with heat and electricity through decentralized hydrogen plants, supplied with hydrogen from surplus production from wind farms
Great local interest
There is apparently a lot of interest among residents in the village to participate, see www.h2-lolland.dk
Lolland focus on alternative energy
Lolland municipality has not been one of the municipalities who have focused on experimenting with sustainable changeover through housing construction, insulation and choice of materials. There are no construction projects in the municipality with special environmental priorities. But the municipality has been radically innovative in relation to environmental and energy conversion of the entire infrastructure for heat and electricity, waste management and wastewater treatment. A long-term focus since the early 1990s on building a new business structure on the rubble of the old shipyard economy has resulted partly in a unique local capacity building in relation to energy and environment and partly in significant projects.
It has formed the basis for a range of local projects, whereof one of the most striking is the Hydrogen Society (Read more on Lolland municipality ).
Project Participants
The project is developed by a consortium of among others, Lolland municipality, Dong Energy, SEAS-NVE and IRD-fuel cell technology (who delivers the fuel cells).