German City Chemnitz, IAV and partners have seen an opportunity to develop Chemnitz into a model hydrogen region, showcasing a hydrogen strategy for cross-sector use in the region.
IAV and partners view Chemnitz as a prime location for research and development of new hydrogen technology. The focus for this new hydrogen location will be production, storage and application of hydrogen. The first steps to putting action into this plan will be to accomplish creating a hydrogen economy in the ‘HyExperts Region’ which will be located in the southwest Saxony area.
The strategic plan agreed that this was a prime location as it includes several advantages within its location such as an abundance of small and medium sized enterprises. These enterprises will be able to offer support to the adaptation of this location and aid it in transforming into a sustainable hydrogen economy. This support will greatly benefit the transition and help the new hydrogen economy to achieve gaining the ability to use hydrogen in mobility, energy and heating sectors.
Sven Schulze, the Mayor of Chemnitz, outlined the plan for the new economy now that initial steps are underway, “The next step will be to implement the short, medium and long-term goals and projects. Important for this are: Commitment, inventiveness, a functioning network and also investments in the public and private sector.”
IAV has also confirmed that the project is expecting to receive funding from the federal government, in order to support the Hydrogen Technology Centre (HIC). This is a major investment and very important to the new economy as the HIC will present the new economy with the ability to offer suppliers and smaller companies who are based within the region a strong, powerful environment to develop hydrogen technologies. This will in turn draw a larger workforce to the region, according to IAV, C4D, DBI Group and Localiser RLI. The investment to make this all possible through the commission and construction of the HIC is expected no later than 2028.
It is very clear that this project is viewed as incredibly important, especially in the view of the Free State of Saxony and Vitesco Technologies who are investing about 11 million euros. These investments will go into evolving the hydrogen test infrastructures. Furthermore, the HIC will also receive support from alliances within the science industry.