Fraunhofer Hydrogen Labs

With the establishment and operation of the three Hydrogen Labs at Fraunhofer, a digitally interconnected infrastructure with test and qualification capacities for the necessary electrolysis and fuel cell systems of over 27 megawatts is being created for the first time. These are test fields for verifying the efficiency and durability of electrolyzers in conjunction with renewable energies. This supports the required market ramp-up of H2 technologies, which we accelerate by consolidating our hydrogen activities in northern and eastern Germany. The Hydrogen Labs in Leuna, Görlitz, and Bremerhaven are digitally linked and cover the entire process from CO2-neutral power generation through offshore and onshore energy production, to the optimization of electrolysis and the production of the systems used, to their utilization, for example in the chemical industry, storage, and the transport of green hydrogen.

Fraunhofer IMWS contributes its many years of experience and expertise in the characterization and development of materials. The current work primarily aims to provide safe materials, components, and systems for the hydrogen economy. Since the production and storage of high-purity hydrogen place significant demands on materials, excellent know-how in material characterization and diagnostics is an important prerequisite. Therefore, we analyze and characterize materials and components, especially using microstructural methods. This includes the entire process from production (material selection, material development, power electronics) to storage (high-pressure tanks) and transport (pipelines) to utilization (sensor components, investigation of aging effects), as well as integration into the energy system (techno-economic evaluations, feasibility analyses, simulation, system design).

Hydrogen Lab Bremerhaven: 

H2 production (2MW) and electrolysis operation with wind energy

Hydrogen Lab Görlitz: 

use of H2 in mobile and stationary fuel cells (focus on industrial processes; up to 12 MW)

Hydrogen Lab Leuna:

Testing of industrial-scale electrolysis for green hydrogen (focus on chemical industry, 5 MW)