
Energy company Verbund AG (VIE:VER) and electric utility Burgenland Energie AG are planning to build Austria's largest electrolysis plant in the state of Burgenland which should produce 40,000 tonnes of green hydrogen annually by 2030.
The project will be implemented in several phases. In 2026, the plant will start producing 9,000 tonnes of green hydrogen per year with its capacity to be expanded to reach 40,000 tonnes per year at the end of this decade. The electrolyser will be powered with 300 MW of locally produced wind and solar energy, Burgenland Energie said on Wednesday.
Once the plant operates at full capacity, it will save 400,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions per year.
The announcement of the project comes several weeks after Austria presented its national hydrogen strategy which envisages building up an electrolysis capacity of 1 GW by the end of this decade and using the clean fuel primarily for the decarbosation of the industry.
Commenting on the project in Burgenland, Austria's climate minister Leonore Gewessler said that the country will increasingly rely on domestic production for green hydrogen in order to reduce its dependence on energy imports. This project is a significant and big step and an important component of the national hydrogen strategy, Gewessler added.
By 2040, the demand for green hydrogen in the Alpine country is expected to be four or five times bigger than now and it will be met by increasing local production in combination with hydrogen imports.
The planned green hydrogen plant will help Burgenland reach its goal to become climate neutral and energy self-sufficient by 2030, meaning that the state will be able to meet all its energy needs with local resources.
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