The pressurised alkaline electrolyser will use renewable wind power and water to produce up to 4,000 tonnes of green hydrogen per year, once it’s operational at the end of 2025.

Around 2,700 tonnes of that hydrogen will be piped 25km through a repurposed natural gas pipeline to TotalEnergies’ refinery in Leuna, where it’s set to replace some fossil-based hydrogen in refining processes.

The delivery of Sunfire’s electrolyser stacks marks the “transition from construction to implementation,” according to Uniper’s Xenia Papst, and is the “result of months of hard work by the entire team.”

The Senior Commercial Manager for Hydrogen added, “With additional stack, the system’s output grows until we reach 30MW and connect the central component to the supply network.”

The project at the Bad Lauchstädt Energy Park near Leipzig reached a €210m ($242m) final investment decision (FID) in 2023. The project consortium is being led by German gas network operator Ontras, in partnership with Uniper, Terrawatt, and VNG.

The project is being described as “reallabor” – a real-world laboratory. Sunfire’s Aron Guttowski said, “Hydrogen technologies such as those being used in Bad Lauchstädt already work today and are ready for industrial application.”

Once commissioned, the Energy Park will represent one of Europe’s largest integrated green hydrogen demonstration projects, linking renewable generation, production, and industrial use.