Völs, March 28, 2022

The Tyrolean grocer MPREIS wants to save tons of CO2 emissions with green hydrogen. To this end, Europe’s largest single-stack electrolyzer from Sunfire is now going into operation.

“Today is finally the day,” says MPREIS project manager Ewald Perwög as he enters the hall to the plant. “Over the past few weeks, our teams have been doing everything they can to get the electrolyzer up and running.” Green hydrogen as a substitute for natural gas and diesel – the Demo4Grid project sets new sustainability benchmarks with which MPREIS continues to drive forward the decarbonization of the company.

The technical heart: the pressurized alkaline electrolyzer from the Dresden-based electrolysis manufacturer Sunfire. With an output of 3.2 MW, the plant splits water into hydrogen and oxygen. The whole process takes place under a pressure of 30 bar. The electricity for the electrolyzer does not come from a coal-fired power plant, but from renewable sources. This makes the production of hydrogen 100 percent_CO2-neutral.

Green hydrogen for fuel cell trucks and a bakery

“The green hydrogen we produce is used directly on site,” explains Ewald Perwög, pointing to the Therese Mölk wholesale bakery further down the site. “There, the large ovens are now heated with hydrogen instead of natural gas. We’re baking our buns green, if you want to call it that. We’re also fueling our brand-new fuel cell truck fleet with the renewable energy source.” In this way, MPREIS saves large quantities of diesel in the long term.

Hydrogen initiatives like these help achieve the EU’s climate targets. On the way to climate neutrality, MPREIS is the first medium-sized company in Austria to use green hydrogen. The investment volume for the new plant in Völs alone amounts to 13 million euros. Half of this was raised through funding from the EU’s Clean Hydrogen Partnership and the Swiss government.

Reliable pressure alkali electrolysis from Sunfire

Sunfire’s pressurized alkali technology has been proven in industrial projects around the world and is one of the most reliable solutions on the market. “We need reliable solutions because our trucks are always running and the availability of green hydrogen must be guaranteed on an ongoing basis,” explains Ewald Perwög. “Therefore, there was no question for us to rely on a ‘big player’ like Sunfire for the technology of the new plant in Völs.”

“We are very pleased to demonstrate the benefits of our pressurized alkali electrolyzer in Tyrol,” says Sunfire CEO Nils Aldag. “Our technology can subsequently help other energy-intensive industries become more sustainable.”

For Sunfire, the commissioning of the pressurized alkali electrolyzer is the starting signal for many other projects on an industrial scale. The first customers have already commissioned alkali plants to achieve their climate targets with the help of green hydrogen – including the energy group ENERTRAG and the Finnish power-to-X pioneer P2X Solutions.

For more information about Demo4Grid, visit www.demo4grid.eu.

For more information about the MPREIS hydrogen initiative, visit www.mpreis.at/wasserstoff.

Image: © MPREIS / ProMedia