A consortium is aiming to launch a project that those behind it say would map the essential building blocks of the green hydrogen value chain and form the basis for an efficient European gas infrastructure for hydrogen.
On 9 March, the GET H2 initiative, consisting of seven companies, unveiled plans to build a cross-border infrastructure for hydrogen in Germany, from Lingen to Gelsenkirchen and from the Dutch border to Salzgitter. The production, transport, storage and industrial acceptance of green hydrogen will be connected in several steps between 2024 and 2030. By using green hydrogen in refineries, steel production and other industrial uses, the project should be able to avoid up to 16mn tonnes of CO2 emissions by 2030.
The partners – BP, Evonik, Nowega, OGE, RWE, Salgitter Flachstahl and Thyssengas – have submitted an expression of interest for funding under the Important Project of Common European Interest (IPCEI) programme to Germany’s Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology.
The project would see green hydrogen produced from an electrolysis plant by RWE in Lingen used to supply the BP refinery in Gelsenkirchen from 2024. The majority of transport will take place through existing gas grid lines, which will be converted to hydrogen transport, with the infrastructure planned to extend to the Dutch border in 2025 ahead of RWE integrating a cavern storage facility in Gronau-Epe from 2026. By 2030, the network would extend to the Salzgitter networks and potentially connect with other networks.
Benefits include a contribution to security of supply, the foundations for a trans-European hydrogen market – considering the link to the Dutch gas market – with the expansion of the project by partners from the transport sector and for distribution of green hydrogen in the area also in preparation.
