- World’s first exhibition company to use hydrogen-assisted power supply
- Exhibition venue in Nuremberg to be CO2-neutral by 2028
- Work to start in 2021 on new hybrid hydrogen power station at Nuremberg Exhibition Centre
- “HYDROGEN DIALOGUE” forms energy combination with hydrogen power station, sends a strong positive message for Nuremberg and Bavaria as business sites
NürnbergMesse is defying the pandemic by holding its new HYDROGEN DIALOGUE & NUEdialog hydrogen event digitally. And at the same time, its project for a hybrid hydrogen power station is laying down a milestone for the exhibition venue’s infrastructure – with the aim of making the Nuremberg Exhibition Centre’s power supply CO2-neutral by 2028. Both aspects are firsts. The hydrogen summit is the first time major players from business, academia and government will gather to advance the cause of hydrogen as an energy source of the future. Also looking to the future is the pilot hydrogen power station project that NürnbergMesse will be presenting as part of HYDROGEN DIALOGUE & NUEdialog. This is the first project of its kind at any exhibition venue in Germany, Europe, or anywhere in the world.
“This one-two combination of a conference and a power station is NürnbergMesse’s way of investing, in the midst of the pandemic, both in strengthening the exhibition business model and in creating a sustainable power supply for Nuremberg as a trade show venue”, said NürnbergMesse Group co-CEO Dr Roland Fleck.
NürnbergMesse will be drawing support from its two main shareholders – the Free State of Bavaria and the City of Nuremberg. Hubert Aiwanger, Bavarian Minister of Economic Affairs, Regional Development and Energy and also a patron of the hydrogen summit, welcomes NürnbergMesse’s initiatives: “HYDROGEN DIALOGUE brings us what will be the key event platform for the hydrogen community in Germany, and eventually all of Europe. The hydrogen power station will make Nuremberg the first exhibition venue with a hydrogen-assisted power supply. NürnbergMesse is thus blazing an exemplary trail for a successful energy transformation – with great potential for industry.”
Nuremberg Mayor Marcus König is pleased with the new initiatives at the Franconian metropolis’s trade fairgrounds: “NürnbergMesse is taking a pioneering role in sustainability, and is thus supporting the City of Nuremberg’s agenda of making hydrogen a central theme for the future of urban development.”
The project will get off to a start in the coming year, and by the end of 2023 all the exhibition venue’s basic energy needs – currently 1.25 megawatt (MW) – should be covered 100% from renewable energy sources. In future steps, the station is to be gradually expanded to as much as 15 MW. NürnbergMesse estimates that CO2-neutral power generation will come at an investment cost in the double-digit millions. The project is still subject to the approval of the Supervisory Board and, in autumn 2020, to the financing condition of the further development of the corona pandemic. The grant applications to the Bavarian government are currently in preparation for the purpose. “The coronavirus will change the exhibitions market, so at NürnbergMesse we’re quite deliberately striking off in new directions, and making a focused investment in hydrogen and our future as well,” says NürnbergMesse Group co-CEO Peter Ottmann.
The basic idea for the new energy effort is founded on supplying energy from renewably generated electricity and heat, based on hydrogen as the key technology – specifically, “green” electricity generated by photovoltaic systems on the roofs of the venue’s halls, “green” hydrogen from surplus electric power, and using a long-term hydrogen storage capacity based on liquid organic hydrogen carriers (LOHC technology). At the same time, the mobility infrastructure on the venue grounds will also be expanded with electric charging stations and a hydrogen filling station – and thus the charging infrastructure capability will be enlarged with another high-potential energy source not just for exhibitors and visitors, but for various forms of public transportation as well.
To develop the hydrogen power station project, NürnbergMesse has recruited concentrated energy expertise from Erlangen in the form of Dr Jochen Lorz, CEO of HEITEC Innovations GmbH, and Klaus-Peter Gilbert, of INP Deutschland GmbH. The HEITEC Group has made a name for itself with products and projects to shrink CO2 footprints. INP has more than 30 years of experience in building power stations and in the energy business.
