Promoting the use of green hydrogen in Luxembourg

On 17 June 2024, Luxembourg has launched Luxembourg Hydrogen Valley (LuxHyVal), a project that targets the potentialproduction of green hydrogen in Bascharage in 2026.  LuxHyVal is a collaborative effort of 17 partners from 7 countries with the University of Luxembourg (Prof Bradley Ladewig) as the main coordinator.

LuxHyVal is expected to make an important contribution to decarbonise the industrial hydrogen consumption oft he country, using 100% renewable electricity to produce green hydrogen.

The 6 MW electrolyser facility at the heart oft he project is expected tob e built in the industrial park of Bascharage.

Enovos and LuxEnergie intend to ensure the production of up to 1,750 kg of green hydrogen per day. From 2026, this will be used in the mobility sector, with the bus companies Sales-Lentz and TICE converting part of their fleet to fuel cell hydrogen buses.  In addition, industrial partner Ceratizit can replace the hydrogen produced from natural gas with green hydrogen.

With an overall budget of 39 million euros, LuxHyVal is expected to be funded through 8 million euros from the Clean Hydrogen Joint Undertaking, a European Union public-private partnership supporting research and innovation in hydrogen technologies, as well as contributions from the corporate partners, while pursuing further public and private funding opportunities. A final investment decision regarding the main capital investment for the project is expected at the beginning of 2025.

Official press release

The district heating network, which has been in place since 1996, is being continuously expanded thanks to the long-standing and trusting cooperation between the city of Remich and LuxEnergie. Construction of the new biomass energy plant began in mid-November 2021, it was ready for operation in December 2022 and now on 7 June 2023 it was officially inaugurated.

Since the commissioning of the new plant, the heating network has been supplied with at least 50 % renewable heat and is thus an efficient heating network. The base load is covered by a wood gasifier with a thermal output of 290 kW and the medium load by a pellet boiler with 500 kW. This minimises the use of the three gas peak load boilers with a total output of 3800 kW, which are still located in the old “Vieille Tannerie” heating plant and in a container.

In addition, the wood gasifier generates 1377 MWh of renewable electricity per year, which is fed into the public grid and roughly corresponds to the consumption of 350 households.

The new energy plant reduces gas demand by 65% compared to the previous plant, avoiding 1300 t of CO₂ emissions annually.

About 110 customers are currently supplied via the 4 km long heating network. Further expansion stages of the heating network are planned, so that in the future more inhabitants of the city can easily and quickly switch to renewable energy.

In addition to the goal of becoming less dependent on gas, the heating network in Remich has another decisive advantage for its customers. As the energy plants are located outside the flooded area, the heat supply is secured even in the event of flooding and pollution from flooded oil tanks is avoided.

On 27 April 2023, the new renewable energy plant in Niederanven was officially inaugurated in cooperation with the municipality of Niederanven. This supplies all public buildings on the ‘Am Sand’ site via a heating network.

By switching from natural gas to wood pellets, annual C02 emissions are now reduced by 1,370 tonnes.

The base load, i.e. the constantly required heat, is covered by a wood gasifier. In combination with a CHP unit, the wood gasifier generates electrical and thermal energy from wood pellets. The new CHP module with wood gasifier has a thermal output of 290 kW and an electrical output of 190 kW. The electricity generated is fed into the public grid.

A pellet boiler with a thermal output of 500 kW covers the medium load and makes it possible to reduce the use of the two natural gas peak load boilers, which are still located in the old heating plant in the basement of the “Centre d’intervention”, to a minimum.

The heat production is still 5,850 MWh. A good three quarters of this, around 4,600 MWh, is covered by the renewable fuel wood pellets. Gas consumption was reduced by 80 % compared to the old heating system.

(Press release only available in French.)

Depuis l’installation de AUCHAN au Kirchberg en 1996, l’entreprise LUXENERGIE, produit et fournit sur site chaleur, froid et courant de secours pour le “Stadtteilzentrum Kirchberg”, comprenant l’hypermarché AUCHAN, la galerie commerciale, l’ensemble de bureaux J. BECH occupés par la Commission Européenne, ainsi que l’immeuble KUBIK.

Conçue dans les années 1995, cette centrale fonctionnant avec des énergies fossiles avait pour vocation d’assurer à l’ensemble immobilier une totale autonomie de fonctionnement pour palier tous risques éventuels de rupture de fourniture d’énergie et limiter d’autant le développement des réseaux publics présents à l’époque sur le plateau.

Fortement engagées dans une démarche de développement durable et de limitation des impacts environnementaux, les sociétés LUXENERGIE et NHOOD (mandatées par l’ensemble des propriétaires du site), entourées des bureaux d’études LUX CONSULT & FELGEN, et de conseil ARENDT MEDERNACH – ont renouvelé leur collaboration pour les 20 prochaines années sur la base du remplacement de la centrale d’énergie de cogénération fuel-gaz en centrale d’énergie à pompes à chaleur air – eau à technologie de CO₂ (une première au Luxembourg), alimentées par de l’électricité issue de sources 100% renouvelables.

Elle vise ainsi un approvisionnement énergétique du complexe totalement neutre en CO_2, soit une économie d’environ 2.500 tonnes annuelles de CO₂, et la réduction d’environ 45% des dépenses énergétiques.

Ce projet d’ampleur représente un investissement de plus de 7 millions d’euros (dont 75% dévolus à des entreprises luxembourgeoises) pour 35 millions d’euros de fourniture énergétique cumulée sur la durée.

Les installations actuelles seront dépolluées et démantelées à destination du marché de seconde main pour les équipements réutilisables, ou à des fins de recyclage des matières premières pour les équipements non réutilisables.

Forts de cette expérience commune de conception du renouvellement de la centrale d’énergie et de l’esprit constructif manifesté tout au long du processus, les partenaires sont également convenus d’unir leur savoir-faire afin de mener une politique d’achats énergétiques commune proactive.

Matteo Perino, General Manager de Nhood Luxembourg souligne : « Nous nous engageons à améliorer la performance environnementale des actifs et quartiers dont nous avons la gestion ou que nous créons. Ce projet, mené de concert, s’inscrit pleinement dans notre volonté de générer dans chacune de nos actions, un triple impact positif : People-Planet-Prosperity ».

Photo de gauche à droite: Paul Weis, Administrateur Délégué LuxEnergie –  Matteo Perino, Directeur Général Nhood Luxembourg – John Sliepen, Chef du Service Technico-Commercial LuxEnergie

Techniquement, la transformation consiste à remplacer les trois cogénérations au gaz, ainsi que les cinq machines frigorifiques, par quatre pompes à chaleur air-eau réversibles. Le CO₂ haute pression utilisé dans les pompes à chaleur, est un réfrigérant parfaitement naturel, aux qualités environnementales optimales.

Ces pompes à chaleur peuvent fonctionner dans trois modes différents :

• Mode chauffage, à partir de l’air ambiante et activé grâce à l’électricité verte, l’eau est chauffée à 75 °C et injectée dans le réseau de chaleur en hiver ;
• Mode climatisation, le cycle est inversé pour refroidir le bâtiment. La chaleur est extraite du bâtiment et évacuée vers l’extérieur au moyen de ces mêmes pompes à chaleur ;
• Mode combiné, la chaleur à évacuer lors de la production du froid est portée au niveau de température du réseau de chaleur. Il en résulte un rendement particulièrement optimal.

Les pics de demande d’énergie en chaleur (< 5% des besoins), sont couverts par des chaudières existantes alimentées par du biogaz.

Join LuxEnergie online at the MOOVIJOBDAY Luxembourg on October 19, dedicated to jobs in Industry, Construction, Logistics and Research and Development.

This day will give you the opportunity to meet directly with our HR management as well as the heads of our technical department and talk about your career prospects.

As the number of places is limited, registration for this event is mandatory. 

Discover your opportunities at LuxEnergie!

We look forward to welcoming you there!

LuxEnergie would like to thank FEDIL – The Voice of Luxembourg’s Industry for this nice article presenting the activities of LuxEnergie and especially the implementations for the energy transition!

Visit LuxEnergie at stand N°65 at MOOVIJOBDAY Luxembourg on 24 March 2023 in Luxexpo The Box and discover why LuxEnergie could be your future employer.

We look forward to welcoming you and discussing your career goals.

Learn more about our current job offers.

The “Biekesbierg” site in Strassen, where LuxEnergie already operates a refrigeration plant and a wood gasifier, is being extended.

An energy plant, which will produce heat and electricity using a wood pellet steam boiler with a generator, is currently under construction. Commissioning is scheduled for February 2022. In addition, a workshop, a warehouse- and an office building, which will be used by LuxEnergie, will be built.

In future, water is heated to steam in a boiler with an hourly consumption of about 2 tons of wood pellets. A turbine uses this steam to produce annually 8,100 MWh of renewable electricity, which is fed into the public power grid. This corresponds to an average annual consumption of more than 1,600 households.

The heat extracted after the turbine in the condenser is used to generate hot water for the heat network. This extends from Strassen to Limpertsberg, is almost 20 km long and supplies about 140 buildings, such as hospitals, public buildings, office buildings and wholesale markets.

An efficient heat network from Strassen to Luxembourg-Limpertsberg

The CHP Strassen, together with an already existing wood gasifier, covers the base load, while the peak load is secured by the gas boilers from two other plants, the Josy Barthel Stadium and the Victor Hugo Hall. A total of 64% of the heat is produced from biomass, making the heat network an efficient one according to the EU directive. This project allows an annual CO₂ saving of 13,000 tons. The wood pellets are supplied from the Kiowatt pellet plant in Roost.

Encevo and ArcelorMittal enter a partnership to develop a biomass plant and heat valorisation project at ArcelorMittal steel plant site in Rodange

The Encevo Group, through its subsidiaries Enovos S.A. and LuxEnergie S.A. have signed with ArcelorMittal Belval & Differdange S.A. a Memorandum of Understanding on a cooperation concerning the development of a biomass plant and a heat valorisation project in Rodange.

Press release

Since the year 2000, the Dudelange energy plant has been supplying via an underground heating network the “Brill” district and several buildings in the vicinity of the energy plant, such as the Centre Hartmann, the Lycée Technique Nic. Biever, the outdoor swimming pool, the Brill and Wolkeschdahl schools, the J.F. Kennedy Stadium and the CIPA Dudelange with heat.

After 20 years, the heat supply contract between “Cogénération Dudelange Brill S.A.” and LuxEnergie expired.

In a feasibility study, the installation of a biomass energy generation plant based on wood pellets was selected as a sustainable and economically viable solution for the future.

LuxEnergie won the resulting public tender in 2020.

Total heat production will remain unchanged at 10.5 MWh/a after the conversion.

To cover the base load, the two existing CHP modules will be replaced by two wood pellet boilers. This ensures that at least 83% of the heat will be produced from renewable sources in the future, which will reduce the annual CO₂ emissions by about 2,000 tonnes.

The peak loads, which mainly occur in winter, will continue to be covered by the two existing gas-fired boilers.

The renovation work will begin in January 2021. Commissioning of the new plant for another 20 years is planned for October 2021.