HPS Home Power Solutions launches production of the picea hydrogen power storage system at Zollner Elektronik 

 

• Bavaria’s minister of economic affairs, Hubert Aiwanger, and Franz Löffler, president of the district council of Oberpfalz and district administrator of Cham, give the official go-ahead on site
• picea, the world’s first solar-hydrogen power plant for private households delivers complete energy self-sufficiency and carbon-free electricity
• Zollner plans scalable production capacities
• One HPS storage system is in use at the Zollner plant in Altenmarkt

 

Berlin and Altenmarkt, –  Zero emissions thanks to hydrogen: Bavarian minister of economic affairs, Hubert Aiwanger, and Franz Löffler, president of the district council of Oberpfalz and district administrator of Cham, paid a visit to the Zollner Elektronik AG plant in Altenmarkt near Cham to inspect the picea hydrogen-based energy storage system developed by Berlin-based HPS Home Power Solutions. Zollner already started the production a couple of weeks ago and uses one of these systems to support the power supply of its plant with a constant, year-round supply of electricity from solar energy.

Economics minister Aiwanger said: “To drive the energy transition, we need storage systems for storing surplus renewable energy. By using this for hydrogen production by electrolysis, a flexible energy carrier can be obtained. Thus, as shown here, a fuel cell powered by hydrogen can generate electricity again. Now it is time to use the Bavarian technological advantage to help this innovation make a rapid breakthrough on the market.”

picea is the world’s first system for single- and two-family houses that combines electricity storage, a central heating support and ventilation in a single, compact product. It optimizes the use of photovoltaics to supply homes with clean photovoltaic electricity via hydrogen storage – 365 days a year. In comparison to the German grid electricity, the system is able to save about three tonnes of carbon per house per year. Following picea’s successful development and market launch, HPS is now ramping up for large-scale distribution. Zollner Elektronik AG, with many years of experience and expertise, is ready to provide the necessary production capacity.

“The start of production is an important milestone in HPS’s expansion program. In the interest of sustainability and short transport routes, we were also keen to manufacture in Germany. Zollner Elektronik AG is a large-scale manufacturer with a reputation for the highest quality. This makes the company an ideal partner in scaling up production of picea,” says Zeyad Abul-Ella, Managing Director of HPS Home Power Solutions. “This partnership with Zollner supports our business model by securing the manufacturing capacity that we need to achieve market success with picea without having to concentrate on the difficult, costly and time-consuming process of gearing up for production. HPS can therefore continue to focus on extending its market and technology leadership.”

picea is based on the functional principle of either using the energy generated by a photovoltaic system on sunny days immediately or converting it into green hydrogen and storing it. The green hydrogen is produced with HPS’s integrated electrolyzer using only water and solar power from its own roof – completely carbon-free. The solar energy that is stored during summer, can be retrieved later during the winter when there is much less sunshine. When needed, the picea fuel cell converts the energy stored in the hydrogen back into electrical energy and heat. picea’s efficient energy management system can satisfy the complete electrical energy requirements of a single-family home 365 days a year – even in the winter. Not only that, but the waste heat generated is recovered and used to heat the home, thus reducing heating costs.

To ensure that the customers’ high quality expectations are met, the picea systems undergo extensive functional testing before leaving Zollner Elektronik AG. “We have optimized the infrastructure and test systems at our Altenmarkt plant specifically for hydrogen. This has helped us become a technology leader in the EMS industry,” says Johann Weber, CEO of Zollner Elektronik AG. “Optimizing the cost of industrializing picea was a high priority for us, as we were keen to ensure that this environmentally friendly storage system would offer an economically competitive alternative to conventional energy supply systems.”

In this way, homeowners can achieve independence in terms of energy supply. picea can also play a role in energy policy. The storage unit, which has a capacity of over 1 MWh per system, can also store energy from the grid and later release it. A large number of networked picea systems can create a network of decentralized storage capacities and virtual power plants capable of securing power grids in the future. Whenever the grid experiences an overcapacity of wind or solar energy, which currently forces an expensive shut-off, picea systems all over Germany can take this energy in and release it again later when there is a shortfall of renewable energies due to a lack of sun and wind – the so called Dunkelflaute. picea systems can thus help make renewable energies base-load capable and accelerate the shift to renewable energies. This will reduce the need of grid expansion and thus the cost of moving to a renewable energy supply.