"At the forefront of new developments"

In a pilot project, residential buildings are heated with hydrogen via an existing natural gas network

About 40 km west of Enschede lies the small Dutch community of Lochem. Until recently, most people outside the Netherlands would not have known much about this place, which currently has around 35,000 inhabitants. However, since Lochem recently became part of a pilot project that is unique in the world, many people will now be looking at the community with interest. Since December 1, 2022, eleven residential buildings there will be heated with hydrogen for the first time via an existing natural gas network. In the project, which will run for three years, the Dutch gas and electricity network operator Alliander is investigating the suitability of hydrogen for heating houses at the request of the residents of the listed buildings. The Westfalen Group is also involved, with its subsidiary Westfalen Gassen Nederland designing and building a plant to pump the hydrogen into the natural gas network.

Great expertise in safe transport and storage of hydrogen

The conversion to hydrogen was preceded by extensive preparations in Lochem. For example, the plant built by Westfalen is responsible not only for feeding the hydrogen into the natural gas network, but also for regulating the pressure. Hydrogen is naturally odorless, so for safety reasons it was given an odorant - a process known as odorization. In the houses themselves, the existing boiler gave way to a hydrogen condensing boiler developed by Remeha GmbH. Additional gas services laid in the street ensure that homes not participating in the pilot project can continue to be supplied with natural gas. "We like to be at the forefront of new developments, especially in the field of hydrogen, and that's why this pilot project is a good fit for Westfalen. With our expertise in the safe transport and storage of hydrogen, we can make a valuable contribution to the development of new options for the energy transition," explains Antoine de Boo, head of the Benelux cluster at Westfalen.

High potential for hydrogen

To date, there has been insufficient practical experience either in the use of hydrogen in residential buildings or in an existing gas network. Hydrogen can be an alternative especially for houses that are difficult to insulate and for which, for example, electric heat pumps are not an appropriate solution. Residential areas where it is not possible to build a local or district heating network can also be considered for this purpose. "Hydrogen is playing an increasingly important role in the switch to environmentally friendly energies. Being involved in such a unique project in Lochem is of course something we are particularly pleased about. It represents another important step towards testing the great potential behind hydrogen in reality. This applies to the heating sector just as much as to the transport sector, where we at Westfalen are currently preparing the series use of a mobile hydrogen filling station for commercial vehicles," says Dr Nicolas Dohn, hydrogen manager at Westfalen.

First exchange at hydrogen symposium

In addition to Alliander, Westfalen Gassen Nederland and Remeha, the citizens' energy cooperative LochemEnergie, the installation company Kimenai Installatiebeheer and a local interest group are also involved in the pilot project. It is enabled by the municipality of Lochem and the province of Gelderland.

A first exchange between all parties involved took place at the end of January during a hydrogen symposium with about 200 guests, where the details of the project were presented again. In a first interim assessment, the project managers noted that the project has got off to a good start, not least due to detailed planning, and that another residential building will soon be connected to the hydrogen-powered network, completing the pilot group.

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