At the Bad Lauchstädt Energy Park in the Saalekreis district green hydrogen was produced for the first time on 10 November 2026. The project partners, including VNG, and regional media announced this on Tuesday. Following the completion of commissioning, the 30-megawatt electrolyser produced hydrogen for the first time using electricity from renewable sources. The start of production marks a technical milestone for the living laboratory, which has been testing the production, storage, transport and industrial use of green hydrogen in central Germany since 2021.
The partners emphasise that these are initially test runs. They are checking whether all stages of the process chain work together reliably: the supply of electricity from wind and solar farms, electrolysis, gas processing, quality verification and connection to existing network infrastructure. In the longer term, the hydrogen is to be transported through a converted natural gas pipeline to the nearby chemical industry site at Leuna . The consortium did not specify quantities at the start of production.
The 30-megawatt electrolyser is at the heart of the project. The living laboratory aims to gather data on efficiency, availability, controllability and costs under real-world grid and market conditions. Another component is connection to underground storage, particularly salt caverns, to balance daily and seasonal fluctuations in production and demand. The facility was developed as a living laboratory with federal funding; project coordination is handled by participating companies from the region.
The start-up in Bad Lauchstädt is a tangible step towards industrial hydrogen supply in Saxony-Anhalt, but will not change the national energy supply or industry’s cost structure in the short term. The key factors will be whether the technology can be scaled up economically beyond the pilot stage, whether secure supply contracts can be agreed with refineries and chemical companies, and whether infrastructure and certification systems for green hydrogen can be expanded quickly. Industry associations point out that significantly greater capacity and reliable policy frameworks are needed for hydrogen to play a substantial role in German industry.
The start of production now provides real-world evidence that renewable generation, electrolysis and grid connection can be integrated in Bad Lauchstädt. The coming months will show whether efficiency, availability and costs can be maintained over longer operating periods, and how quickly connections to Leuna and planned storage facilities can be put in place.
Editor: Mira Cadena (Article created with AI assistance).