Baxi GAMMA fuel cell is installed on Hamburg’s “Rickmer Rickmers” museum
The fuel cell heating unit on the “Rickmer Rickmers”, the Hamburg-based museum sailing ship, has officially been put into operation by Axel Gedaschko, Senator for Economy and Employment, on behalf of the free and hanseatic city of Hamburg.
The City of Hamburg has thus opened a new chapter in confronting climate change with fewer CO2 emissions.
This GAMMA 1.0 unit, driven by hydrogen obtained from natural gas, is the first of a 100 such units to be installed in the area in and around Hamburg by the energy supplier, E.ON Hanse. They are part of the Callux field test, which is taking place throughout the whole of Germany, and is the largest practice test in preparation for the market launch of fuel cell heating units for home use.
Sharing responsibility for a forward-looking environmental and energy policy
At the symbolic pressing of a button by Axel Gedaschko, the fuel cell heating unit developed by the Hamburg-based Baxi Innotech company took over the provision of energy and heat in the former freight sailing ship, the “Rickmer Rickmers”.
At the commissioning ceremony, the politicians, manufacturers and energy suppliers present stressed their shared responsibility for an environmentally responsible echnology, and for greater energy efficiency through specific projects, such as this one, that promote the deployment of stationary fuel cells for use in single-family homes. And, according to E.ON Hanse, several dozen of the planned 100 GAMMA units are to be installed in the next few years.
This project represents a further milestone in Hamburg’s aspiration to become a model location for local energy supply using this forward-looking technology.
10 years’ development of the stationary fuel cell for the efficient, sustainable supply of heat and energy
Ten years ago, almost to the day, this Hamburg-based development company set off on a course to develop a fuel cell heating unit, that was efficient in terms of both environmental and energy policy, by 2010. In the meantime, the rapid advance of climate change and the growing demands for greater energy efficiency in modern heating technology have given the team of engineers at Baxi Innotech the necessary motivation and assurance that they have chosen the right path. Over the years, the intensive field
tests conducted throughout Germany have provided valuable insights into the deployment and user habits of single-family households. These field test results have contributed strategically to the technical maturity of the GAMMA 1.0 generation.
Simultaneously providing heat and generating your own current – it is all possible with the fuel cell heating unit
It will be possible in future for home owners to utilise the fuel cell heating unit extremely efficiently, in combination with a heat storage unit and an electronic energy manager.
This form of heating for single-family homes, which also generates electricity, covers 100 per cent of the annual heating requirement and, at the same time, generates up to more than 70 per cent of the annual energy requirement.
Local specialist fitters – trained by Baxi Innotech – will be carrying out the installation and service of the units. “Our GAMMA 1.0 fuel cell heating unit will first be driven by natural gas and, in future, also by organic natural gas. There is no other heating technology that is more efficient, or cleaner. This project confirms this as well as clearly showing how fuel cell technology works. Energy suppliers, the specialist trade and end customers will all be able to benefit from these advantages”, explains Guido Gummert, Managing Director of Baxi Innotech.
