Foundation stone laid in Herten/Germany for Blue Tower - the technology of the future

• Christa Thoben, Minister of Economic Affairs, and Mayor Dr. Uli Paetzel lay the foundation stone for the 42 meter high H2Herten demonstration plant
• The innovative technology uses roadside green cuttings to produce hydrogen and electricity
• The suitability of various types of regenerative feedstock means an almost unlimited number of potential locations around the world
• The total investment of 24.6 million Euros is being subsidized with 7.1 million Euros by the state of North Rhine-Westphalia

Herten, 05.03.2009 Today, H2Herten GmbH, a company of the Solar Millennium Group, will lay the foundation stone of the Blue Tower demonstration plant in the town of Herten (in the Recklinghausen district). In the 42 meter high plant, roadside green cuttings from the Ruhr area will be used to produce hydrogen and electricity. The investment volume stands at around 24.6 million Euros. Following its completion, the plant will produce hydrogen and, at the same time, provide around 12,000 homes - equivalent to about a third of the homes in Herten - with environmentally friendly electricity.

Christa Thoben, Minister of Economic Affairs and Energy for the state of North Rhine-Westphalia, Mayor Dr. Uli Paetzel, Bernd Tönjes, CEO of the RAG Corporation, CFO Thomas Mayer and CTO Dr. Henner Gladen of Solar Millennium AG respectively, as well as Christian Reiser and Dr. Heinz-Jürgen Mühlen, the Managing Directors of H2Herten, together laid the foundation stone of the demonstration plant. The aim of the plant is to prove that the technology is ready for the market, so that it can subsequently be marketed worldwide.

In the Blue Tower, roadside green cuttings are transformed into a clean, hydrogen-rich product gas - the so-called "Blue Gas" -, which can be used in a combined heat and power plant to produce electricity., In addition, the Blue Tower can produce up to 150 cubic meters of hydrogen per hour during a primary expansion stage, which is to be provided to the neighboring Technology Center - a project of the town at Ewald, a future location into the conception of which the Blue Tower is conceptually integrated. The plant will save around 17.8 million cubic meters of natural gas and around 15,000 tons of carbon dioxide per year. About ten people will be employed at the H2Herten Blue Tower. Approximately forty additional jobs in the service and supplier industries will be indirectly created.

The state of North Rhine-Westphalia is subsidizing the project with 7.1 million Euros. Christa Thoben, Minister of Economic Affairs, used the laying of the foundation stone to emphasize the significance of the project: "The Blue Tower will be an important contribution to this town's Technology Center, and is a sign of Herten's successful structural transition as an energy producer - from formerly being a major mining town, to being the leading town in the hydrogen sector." Dr. Uli Paetzel, Mayor of Herten, said: "The Blue Tower is an important part of the Herten Technology Center. This plant makes it possible to produce hydrogen from biomass - and represents an important step towards our goal of creating a communal H2 Technology Center with practical applications. Our forward-looking location in Ewald represents the new H2 technology's entire process at - from the research and development to the production and practical application."

Dr. Heinz-Jürgen Mühlen, Managing Director of H2Herten GmbH and patent holder, sees the Blue Tower in Herten as an internationally significant reference plant: "Our technology does not require any food or feeding stuff. Instead, it uses regenerative waste that is available almost everywhere. In contrast to standard biomass technology, this means that we can use very different types of feedstock, meaning in turn an almost unlimited number of potential locations around the world. In other regions, for example, olive stones and chicken manure can also be used as feedstock. We have already received numerous requests for our technology from all around the world."

Solar Millennium AG has an involvement of over 17 million Euros in the Herten plant. Thomas Mayer, Chief Financial Officer of Solar Millennium, pointed out North Rhine-Westphalia's tradition when it comes to energy and plant construction: "Even though we are a south German company, most of our group's employees are stationed here: At our technology subsidiary Flagsol GmbH in Cologne, and in Essen at our joint venture with MAN Ferrostaal, MAN Solar Millennium GmbH. Over the last few months, we have also been testing the design of our new parabolic trough collector in the Ruhr area: in comparison to the previous generation of collectors installed in the Spanish and Egyptian power plants, this design allows cost savings of 15 to 20 percent." Mayer sees great possibilities in coupling solar-thermal electricity generation with Blue Tower technology: "A decisive advantage offered by solar-thermal power plants in comparison to other renewable energy sources is that they make it possible, via the use of thermal storage systems, to also produce electricity when the sun is not shining but when there is still a high demand for electricity. Using hybrid operation to combine solar energy with the gas produced in the Blue Tower means that we will be able to take even greater advantage of this in the future."

About Blue Tower technology:
The use of regenerative feedstock to generate energy or hydrogen is based on the principle of staged reforming. The raw materials are mostly converted into gas and a minimum amount of solids by thermolysis. The resulting gas is refined to a clean, climate-neutral product by reforming, i.e. Blue Gas. The heat of reaction needed for thermolysis and reforming is gained mainly from combustion of the solid material. The Blue Gas can be used to generate hydrogen and electricity, for example. Blue Tower is a multifeedstock-technology. This means that a variety of very different materials can be used, for example garden waste, roadside green cuttings, olive stones or chicken manure. More information can be found here.

About H2Herten GmbH and Blue Tower GmbH:
H2Herten GmbH is the project company of the Blue Tower demonstration project in Herten. It is a 90% subsidiary of Blue Tower Capital GmbH, Erlangen, a 100% subsidiary of Solar Millennium AG. The remaining 10% are held by Blue Tower GmbH, Herten, the technology company of Blue Tower, of which Solar Millennium AG owns 76% and the patent owner, Dr. Heinz-Jürgen Mühlen, owns 24%.

About Solar Millennium AG:
Solar Millennium AG, Erlangen, is a globally active company in the renewable energy sector, with a main focus on solar thermal power plants. Together with its subsidiaries, Solar Millennium specialises in parabolic trough power plants - a reliable, proven technology in which the company has a worldwide leading position covering all major business sectors along the value chain for solar thermal power plants from project development over technology and turn-key construction to the operation and ownership of power plants. In Spain, Solar Millennium developed Europe's first ever parabolic trough power plants and realised them together with partners. Further projects are planned worldwide with an overall capacity of over 2,000 Megawatts. The current regional focus is on Spain, the USA, China and North Africa. Furthermore, the company aims to achieve market readiness for the so-called Blue Tower technology - the generation of hydrogen-rich product gas during the use of regenerative feedstock - and, in the long-term, also for solar chimney power plants.

About solar thermal power plant technology:
Solar thermal power plants generate electricity using solar radiation converted into thermal energy. In a parabolic trough power plant, the solar radiation is concentrated by trough-shaped mirrors onto a pipe in the focal line of the collector. Its absorption heats up a heat transfer fluid in the pipe, generating steam in the power block by means of a heat exchanger. As with conventional power plants, the steam powers a turbine to generate electricity. And by integrating a thermal storage, electricity can be supplied on demand, even after sunset.

You can download the press release here.