Hydrogen – More than 1,5 million euros in funding for eFarm North Frisia
State Secretary Joschka Knuth presents the funding notification from the state of Schleswig-Holstein for a regional hydrogen project.
eFarm Nordfriesland will be able to produce even more green hydrogen in the future: The operating company has now received a grant of 1.593 million euros for the expansion of hydrogen production in Bosbüll.
Joschka Knuth, State Secretary in the Ministry for Energy Transition, Climate Protection, Environment and Nature, presented the official notification to André Steinau, Managing Director of eFarming GmbH & Co. KG, on Wednesday in Bosbüll, North Frisia. “Green hydrogen is a crucial component of the energy transition, without which we will not achieve our climate goals,” said State Secretary Knuth. “Thanks to the high proportion of renewable energies in the electricity grid, we in the north have ideal conditions for the production of green hydrogen. Enabling hydrogen production from renewable energies in Germany is of strategic importance – current geopolitical conflicts clearly demonstrate this.”
The principle of the eFarm remains the same even after the conversion: Regionally generated electricity from renewable energy plants is used to produce green hydrogen on site, store it, transport it to partners and refuel it at two filling stations in Husum and Niebüll.
André Steinau, said:
While we wait for signals from Berlin for the hydrogen ramp-up, we are taking action in Schleswig-Holstein,
“In the eFarm project here in Bosbüll, we are converting the electricity locally into green hydrogen, thus relieving the strain on the electricity grids – and we can also use the wind power when it has to be curtailed elsewhere.”
First project funded by the state program
The expansion of the eFarm production site is the first project to be funded under the Schleswig-Holstein state economic development program 2021-2027 with resources from the European Regional Development Fund. The electrolysis capacity in Bosbüll will increase to two megawatts with the upgrade. The electrolyzer used in Bosbüll – as with the eFarm sister project HY.Kiel – comes from the Spanish manufacturer H2B2.
Ingo Böhm, Mayor of Bosbüll and Managing Director of Bosbüll Energie GmbH, said:
Here in Bosbüll, the entire energy transition comes together: from electricity generation in wind and solar parks to heat supply with our own heating network and the production of green hydrogen
“This is sustainable and economical at the same time.”
From summer 2026, more than one ton of green hydrogen can be produced per day. That’s enough for more than 30 bus refuelings per day, giving them the same range as a diesel bus on a single tank.
The main users of green hydrogen will no longer be just two, but twelve buses in local public transport in Schleswig-Holstein, operated by DB subsidiary Autokraft GmbH and Transdev subsidiary Rohde Verkehrsbetriebe GmbH. The expansion of the hydrogen bus fleet is supported by the innovation clause of the Nordfriesland district. This clause stipulates that the use of emission-free drive technologies is to be given preference and, in return, subsidizes the additional operating costs associated with bus service.
Eighteen partners or companies are involved in the joint project, eFarming GmbH & Co. KG. These include numerous community wind and solar farms, meaning that indirectly more than 3,500 people from North Frisia are part of eFarm. “I am delighted that the vast majority of partners are convinced of the sustainable impact and further development of the eFarm principle – that is, a regional hydrogen ecosystem,” says André Steinau.
For this concept of broad participation, great innovation and sustainable use of local resources, eFarm and GP JOULE as the initiator of the project have received several awards, including the German Mobility Prize, first place in the Future Prize for SMEs and the German Renewables Award.
The new hydrogen production plant in Bosbüll is scheduled to go into operation in the summer of 2026. The waste heat from the electrolysis process, which previously flowed into the municipality’s heating network, will also be reused in the new plant.
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Hydrogen – More than 1,5 million euros in funding for eFarm North Frisia, source
