H-TEC breaks ground on 5-GW partly solar-powered electrolyzer stacks factory in Hamburg

Hydrogen specialist H-TEC SYSTEMS today broke ground on a new automated factory with up to 5 GW of potential capacity, combining PEM electrolysis stacks development, production, testing, and service at one single location in Hamburg, Germany.

The so-called H-TEC SYSTEMS Stack Manufacturing & Development Center is being built on a 35,000-sq-m (376,700 sq ft) site in Victoria Park, a commercial area in the Rahlstedt district of Hamburg. The launch of production could start as early as next year, according to a press release.

The facility will rely on power generated by 2 MW of solar photovoltaic (PV) systems on top of the building and in the adjacent multi-storey car park. At the same time, heat will be sourced from the district heating network.

H-TEC SYSTEMS is part of MAN Energy Solutions whose CEO Uwe Lauber stated that the group intends to invest about EUR 500 million (USD 553.3m) in electrolyzer production over the next few years. "For a successful hydrogen initiative, we have to scale up from stack manufacture to automated series production, and we are symbolically breaking ground for this today,” he said.

“With more than 11,000 square meters of space available for production and test procedures, we are ideally positioned to cover future product generations at our new location and thus effectively facilitate the global hydrogen start-up," in turn said Robin von Plettenberg, CEO of H-TEC SYSTEMS.

Funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF), the project is being executed through a joint venture between Garbe Industrial Real Estate GmbH and the Jebens Group. Hamburg-based real estate consulting company Grossmann & Berger served as an intermediary during the creation of the JV and the leasing arrangement. Koester GmbH is the general contractor, while consulting firm Drees & Sommer supported the building and factory planning.