VNG discusses hydrogen with the German-Algerian delegation
Algeria could become an important H2 exporter.
A German-Algerian delegation visited VNG AG in Leipzig to talk about the potential of the green hydrogen economy and scientific/technical questions about possible future green hydrogen imports from Algeria to Germany.
The visit was organised under the German-Algerian Energy Partnership and the International Hydrogen Ramp-up Programme, which the German Society for International Cooperation (GIZ) GmbH is coordinating from Algiers on behalf of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Protection (BMWK).
The Algerian delegation included Smail Allaoua, Algerian Ambassador to Germany, representatives of the Energy Ministry of the People’s Democratic Republic of Algeria and the state-owned Algerian energy company Sonatrach, which is also the largest in Africa. The German delegation included representatives from BMWK, the Saxony State Ministry for Energy, Climate Protection, Environment and Agriculture (SMEKUL), GIZ and the VNG Group.
Hans-Joachim Polk, Board Member at VNG AG, said, “We are able to present the Bad Lauchstädt Energy Park as a real-life laboratory and best practice example for the development of a green hydrogen value chain in connection with the German-Algerian delegation visit”
Smail Allaoua, Algerian Ambassador to Germany, said, “The development of hydrogen has been included as one of the priority objectives of the Algerian government, within the framework of an ambitious national plan for the development of renewable energies.”
The Bad Lauchstädt Energy Park is funded by the BMWK as a large-scale real-life laboratory for the energy transition. The project’s aim is implemented by the partners Terrawatt GmbH, Uniper, ONTRAS Gastransport GmbH, VNG Gasspeicher GmbH and DBI – Gastechnologisches Institut gGmbH Freiberg and VNG AG is to set up the complete value chain of green hydrogen from wind energy, hydrogen conversion, storage, transport and use.
With a capacity of 30 megawatts (MW), the electrolysis plant for hydrogen production is of a system-relevant size and will be the first in the world to directly couple renewable wind power from a nearby wind farm (40 MW) and a large electrolysis plant in order to convert wind power into green hydrogen on site.