Replace natural gas without having to replace your production infrastructure

NextHeat offers process heat solutions for industrial customers.
The goal: to replace fossil fuels in high-temperature processes with hydrogen. You can find out how this works here.

How does NextHeat work?

We build local hydrogen production plants on your company premises and retrofit boilers/furnaces with our hydrogen burners. In the NextHeat electrolyser, green electricity and water are converted into hydrogen. Integrated energy management keeps down the cost of producing hydrogen, while ensuring it is certifiably green.
OUR MODULES
Our comprehensive solution features low entry costs and can be seamlessly integrated into existing systems”

Who is NextHeat suitable for?

For all industries with high-temperature processes (> 200 °C) and an average natural gas demand of over 100 kW.
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Why don’t I have to change my production process?

Converting from natural gas to electricity (direct electrification) would require a new furnace/boiler – this isn’t the case with hydrogen, however. Hydrogen burners work in the same way as natural gas burners and can be installed in existing systems by retrofitting.

Case Studies

Töpfer Kulmbach GmbH

270 people are employed at the Töpfer site in Kulmbach, and 125 million labels are printed every day. Lots of heat is needed because of the drying process in the printing operation. Energy is supplied by natural gas and the combustion of organic solvent in an RTO plant.
"We first touched base with the NextHeat team during the gas crisis. Concerned about potential restrictions on natural gas and the consequences that might have for our company, we looked for alternatives to natural gas.
The NextHeat team demonstrated detailed and up-to-date knowledge regarding all the regulatory and technical aspects of producing and using hydrogen.
NextHeat clarified converting our RTO plant to a hydrogen burner with the plant’s manufacturer. An optimal design of the hydrogen production and a profitability analysis provided a solid basis on which we can plan the transformation to climate-neutral management."

FAQs

Green hydrogen production is electricity-intensive, and the production costs depend strongly on electricity costs. However, our electrolysers are operated to serve the grid and are thus exempt (in Germany, at least) from grid charges and electricity tax. This significantly improves the competitiveness of our hydrogen solution compared to direct electrification.

Also think about:

  • Today, electricity prices on the stock market are very low already, and even negative where the share of renewable energies in the grid is high. This effect will occur more frequently and more intensively with the expansion of renewable energies, which will favour the development of storage technologies such as hydrogen.

  • Comparable prices between natural gas and hydrogen will be reached before the end of this decade. When exactly this will be the case depends above all on the CO2 price. After reforms to the EU emissions trading system, about 85% of all European CO2 emissions are tied to certificates or emission rights: while in 2020, a certificate cost an annual average of just under €25 per tonne of CO2, by 2022, it cost €80. And prices continue to rise: at the end of February 2023, a tonne of CO2 reached an all-time high of €100.63. As the number of certificates will continue to diminish year on year, those who switch to hydrogen today are well prepared for the future.
  • Recent reports show that imported hydrogen will be more expensive than local hydrogen. Waiting for cheap hydrogen to be transported by pipelines is not a good idea, therefore. It will only end up costing valuable time to switch to renewable energy.

  • The exemption from grid charges and electricity tax on the German electricity market creates optimal conditions for local hydrogen production from the off. There are hardly any electricity or gas transport costs.

  • Those who are already reliant on hydrogen and gradually convert their plants give themselves a clear competitive advantage: you are ready for the future, your image is improved, and you immediately attract new customers, employees and investors with greater ease.

Anyone who wants to convert to hydrogen today needs five different partners:

  • You need a solution for renewable power supply
  • a supplier for the electrolysis plant
  • a project developer to integrate your hydrogen production, including storage, into your process
  • a supplier for hydrogen burners and
  • you need to coordinate the integration of your burners with the manufacturer of the existing furnace/boiler.

This is expensive and requires a lot of planning. That’s why NextHeat offers H2 burner and electrolyser modules that are matched to each other precisely, minimising the effort required to integrate them during the switch. From as little as 100 kW gas demand, you can gradually convert your production to hydrogen and prepare your processes for the climate-neutral energy carrier.

And the best part? After an initial analysis of your heat requirements and existing production facilities, we will guide you through the entire implementation process so that you save time and money. This means you can actually concentrate on your core business.

What’s more: NextHeat electrolysers are also equipped with an intelligent control solution that allows them to be connected to a renewable energy plant, thus ensuring low electricity costs and certified green hydrogen.

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