Hörmann’s Hydrogen house Hörmann Wasserstoffhaus

The Hörmanns are owners of a photovoltaic company, and they work every day to implement the latest technical developments in the field of renewable energies. They therefore wanted to build their new private house as energy efficiently as possible and use solar energy in the summer and winter. They implemented a concept for the long-term storage of solar energy using hydrogen. With this concept, it is possible to completely cover the energy demand of the building with photovoltaic systems on the roof and façade and a hydrogen storage unit even in winter. On sunny days, excess solar energy is stored in a battery and hydrogen is produced, which is later converted back into electricity using a fuel cell. The main “waste product” is heat, which is used sensibly in the house for heating and hot water. The heart of the hydrogen house is a module with an electrolyser and fuel cell. The electrolyser produces hydrogen, while the fuel cell generates electricity and heat for the house as needed. To show what the scheme could do, they decided to make do without an electricity connection. The newly built house has been running completely self-sufficiently since December 2018, and there is still enough excess electricity to power several electric vehicles.