The branch of Hollander Techniek has recently been sustainably heated with the first 100% hydrogen boiler for the utility market. Never before has a building been heated on green hydrogen in the Netherlands. The hydrogen heating is intended as a pilot project for the application of hydrogen in larger buildings and has a duration of at least 2 years.
Hollander Techniek is expected to occupy a new building totaling 3,000 m² on the same plot in 2025 due to an expansion need, in addition to the current building. Because both buildings will be delivered without natural gas, in addition to the boiler running on 100% green hydrogen, use will be made of heating via a hybrid heat pump and a boiler on green propane gas. The latter application is only used as a supplement on very cold days.
First producer of the Netherlands
With this pilot, Remeha is the first manufacturer in the Netherlands to introduce a higher power hydrogen boiler. At Hollander Techniek a Quinta Ace H2 100% is used, a 100% hydrogen boiler with a capacity of up to 40kW. Supplemented by an Effenca MT40 heat pump, two Quinta Ace 45 boilers - in so-called cascade arrangement - controlled by a miTera Plus system controller. The entire system is energy-neutral.
Preparing for a sustainable future
At Hollander Techniek we have been working for years to become more sustainable at natural replacement times. Erik Hollander, general manager explains the situation: 'In addition to a new building under construction, we also want to take the step of heating our current building even more sustainably and reducing our CO2 emissions in the process. That was not so easy. Due to the insulation value of our existing building, the limited availability of electricity on the Apeldoorn-Noord business park, combined with the electrification of our vehicle fleet and also the capacity requirements of the building under construction, heating with all-electric heat pumps proved impossible. After consultation with our partner Remeha, a new system solution was chosen. All solutions together - including our existing CHP system - help our ambition for our buildings to be CO2 neutral by 2025.'
Hollander talks about a second important motivation: 'We want to be at the forefront of the energy transition, so it is very important for us to gain a lot of knowledge about hydrogen: what is involved, how do we train our people and how do we train them to work with hydrogen in a safe way? That is precisely why we choose to make our own premises more sustainable and apply hydrogen.'
From residential to commercial
Remeha began developing the first residential hydrogen boiler in 2017. the manufacturer was involved in heating an apartment complex in Rozenburg on hydrogen in 2019. At the time, this was the world's first hydrogen application in a residential building.
Hydrogen projects for utility buildings are the logical next step. Remeha, for both residential construction and utility buildings, uses natural gas boiler platforms to control hydrogen boilers. For the utility market, the well-known Quinta platform is available that is scalable to larger capacities. Remeha has developed three 100% hydrogen boilers with different capacities for pilot projects: the Tzerra Ace H2 100% 28C, the Tzerra Ace H2 100% 34C and the Quinta Ace H2 100% 45. Remeha is awaiting availability of infrastructure and laws and regulations to introduce the commercial hydrogen boilers to the market.
Maurice Meulenbrugge, renewable gas product manager at Remeha is pleased with this new project: 'We believe in multiple paths to sustainability: gaseous, electricity and heat networks. We see the solution in the combined use of energy carriers, appropriate to the environment and existing infrastructure. Hydrogen is a promising energy carrier. Especially in applications in the utility sector, where the required power is often high, we have the opportunity to significantly reduce CO2 emissions with hydrogen. Therefore, we are pleased to be able to run this pilot project together with Hollander Techniek, especially since it involves hydrogen produced with energy from renewable sources such as wind and solar energy.
Hydrogen in hybrid system solution is new
Meulenbrugge talks about a second piece of news in this project: 'The hybrid arrangement can be called a national first. Never before has a hybrid heat pump, a 100% hydrogen boiler and two supporting propane boilers been cascaded, centrally controlled by a system controller. With this project, Remeha is demonstrating that hydrogen can be part of the comfortable heating of commercial buildings, thus creating a role for hydrogen in the sustainable system solutions. In this way, we contribute to creating a better living environment.'
