OMV conducting intensive research on hydrogen
Article continues below
Hydrogen is OMV's first choice in the fuel technology of the future. Projects are coming up, with work starting this year on another hydrogen filling station in the Innsbruck area. OMV is a partner in the "H2 Mobility Initiative" in Germany, which should result in around 400 public hydrogen filling stations by 2023.
Schwechat Refinery already produces around 100,000 tonnes of hydrogen per year using natural gas. Even when hydrogen is produced with fossil fuels, using fuel-cell vehicles still cuts CO2 emissions by around 50 percent.
A basic sum of EUR 20 million euros for hydrogen research has been earmarked for the coming years as part of the OMV research budget.
As part of the research project "Power to Gas", OMV is working with partners on improving application options for electricity from renewable energy. A key area here is transforming electricity into hydrogen (Wind2Hydrogen). Electricity is used to split water into hydrogen and oxygen using electrolysis.
The advantage here: it is easier to store electricity in the form of hydrogen and transport it using the existing natural gas pipeline network. Appropriate research facilities will be set up in the coming months.
Preparing for the longer-term future is also a priority for OMV. Research is being conducted with experts at the Christian Doppler Laboratory at Cambridge University on producing hydrogen using water and sunlight. With this research OMV is making an important contribution to a future powered by renewable energy. ■