To mark the German Hydrogen Week, Clean Energy Conversion (CEC) Haren GmbH invited all partners of the H2Agrar project. On the site of the associated energy storage field, the project partners discussed the prospects for hydrogen utilisation with representatives from politics, science and the industry. Fendt is participating in the subsidised project with two Fendt Helios hydrogen tractors.
H2 Fendt Helios tractor on display as part of German Hydrogen Week 2024
To mark the German Hydrogen Week, Clean Energy Conversion (CEC) Haren GmbH invited all partners of the H2Agrar project. On the site of the associated energy storage field, the project partners discussed the prospects for hydrogen utilisation with representatives from politics, science and the industry. Fendt is participating in the subsidised project with two Fendt Helios hydrogen tractors.
Utilising Green Hydrogen and reducing the carbon footprint: Reducing CO2 emissions is one of the major tasks of the present and future. It is clear that agriculture can make an important contribution. The H2Agrar project is researching whether and how the use of hydrogen can be realised in agricultural applications. The NBank-funded project was launched in February 2021 and ran for three years. The Fendt Helios tractors will continue to be used on farms for some time after the official conclusion of the project.
(from left) Markus Honnigfort (Mayor of Haren), Dr. Michael Kiehl (District Planning Officer for the Emsland district) and Olaf Lies (Lower Saxony Minister for Economic Affairs, Construction, Transport and Digitalization) in conversation with Christoph Pieper (Managing Director of CEC Haren & Grüner Tankstellenpark Haren)
Around 160 participants from various sectors travelled to the CEC Haren GmbH energy storage field in Haren, Germany. Olaf Lies, Lower Saxony's Minister for Economic Affairs, Construction, Transport and Digitalisation, was already on site at the start of the project and was now able to see the progress made: "This is a flagship project for the use of hydrogen and shows the potential of the Emsland region. People are not only talking, they are getting things done. And despite many hurdles."
Green hydrogen from renewable sources
On Friday, two panels discussed the challenges faced by hydrogen users, be it in a medium-sized production company, in the context of European or German regulations or with regard to mobility. The source of the hydrogen also played an important role: the Green Power for hydrogen production in the H2Agrar project is sourced from a community wind farm with 16 wind turbines. Two specially installed electrolysers, each with an output of 1 MW, produce up to 900 kg of hydrogen per day on the CEC Haren GmbH site. At the same time, there are two battery storage units on site with a total capacity of 4 MWh for buffering electrical energy. This hydrogen produced in Haren is fed into the local natural gas grid and supplied to the newly constructed hydrogen filling station. There is also a Green Charging Park for trucks and cars with a charging capacity of 480 kW per charging station.
The Fendt Helios
Two prototypes of the Fendt Helios hydrogen tractor are being used as part of the DLG award-winning project. Both are equipped with five hydrogen tanks, each with a capacity of 4.2 kg. The compressed hydrogen is stored in each tank at up to 700 bar on the roof of the tractor. A 100 kW fuel cell uses this to generate electrical energy. The fuel cell and a 25 kWh battery as a buffer store supply the electric traction motor with 100 kW continuous power and the electrified auxiliary consumers. The tractors can only be used with a suitable infrastructure. The tractors refuel with up to 21 kg of hydrogen at the special hydrogen filling station using a specially defined refuelling protocol.
Dr. Benno Pichlmaier (Director Global Research & Advanced Engineering AGCO | left) in exchange with participants.
"The Fendt Helios carries out all the work on farms that a tractor with similar power and a diesel engine would have to do. We are researching various parameters such as the power requirement and energy consumption of the tractor for different tasks as well as infrastructure requirements, such as the filling station," says Dr Benno Pichlmaier, Director Global Research & Advanced Engineering AGCO. "The initial evaluations show that the tractor achieves around 5 to 8 hours of operating time on one filling of hydrogen, depending on the application. This year, the Fendt Helios will run in the harvest for the first time. There we will be able to gain further insights into how hydrogen tractors fit into our Fendt Clean Energy Strategy for sustainable drive solutions alongside battery-electric machines and diesel engines with HVO fuel."
About the Week of Hydrogen 2024
This year, German Hydrogen Week took place from 15 to 23 June. It is a series of events centred around the topic of hydrogen in its various forms and potential uses. The themed week has been organised for the sixth time in total, and for the past two years has also been held nationwide. The patron is Andreas Rimkus, the SPD parliamentary group's hydrogen commissioner. The campaign week includes information events on the topics of transport and mobility, production, storage and infrastructure of hydrogen as well as corresponding discussion forums.
About the H2Agrar project
In the joint project H2Agrar and the Green H2 Hub-Haren project, the state of Lower Saxony is funding the development of a hydrogen infrastructure in the Emsland model region. The Green Hydrogen is produced using Green Energy from a local community wind farm. This is to be used primarily in the mobility sector and in agriculture. To this end, an infrastructure with its own filling station park for alternative fuels such as hydrogen, as well as e-charging stations, is established. AGCO/Fendt is working on the project together with CEC Haren GmbH & Co KG, Röchling Engineering Plastics SE & Co KG, the Technical University of Braunschweig and the Emden/Leer University of Applied Sciences.
