Decisive step towards a European hydrogen economy

The five partners of the hydrogen project GET H2 Nukleus (bp, Evonik, Nowega, OGE, RWE) very much welcome the European Hydrogen Strategy published today. 

"In conjunction with Germany’s National Hydrogen Strategy, the EU concept is a decisive step towards a European hydrogen economy and thus towards achieving the climate targets," says Bernhard Niemeyer-Pilgrim, Member of the Board of Management of BP Europa SE.

With the production of green hydrogen from renewable energies, transport over 130 kilometres of pipelines and acceptance in the industrial sector, the GET H2 Nukleus is one of the pioneering projects for an integrated hydrogen infrastructure. "We are starting in Lower Saxony and North Rhine-Westphalia, in the vicinity of central energy hubs in Europe. This makes the GET H2 Nukleus an ideal first building block of the European hydrogen network", says Roger Miesen, CEO of RWE Generation SE.

The German and European hydrogen strategies are important foundations. But: "Now we need a timely implementation of the planned measures of the German and European hydrogen strategies. This is the only way to create the necessary investment security for the companies involved in hydrogen projects," says Thomas Basten, head of Pipelines in Evonik's Technology & Infrastructure Division. The indications from politicians so far have been very positive.

The partners of the GET H2 Nukleus have already initiated numerous steps to realize the CO₂ savings potential of green hydrogen as early as possible:

• Site preparation and technical planning for the 100 MW electrolyser in Lingen are underway.
• The feasibility study for the construction of the hydrogen feed-in station has been completed.
• The grid connection application for the feed-in of green hydrogen in Lingen has been submitted.
• TÜV studies for the first of the pipelines to be converted are completed.
• Preparations are being made for the first measures to convert existing natural gas pipelines for hydrogen transport.
• Construction of the connecting pipeline from Evonik's Chemical Park in Marl to bp's refinery in Gelsenkirchen-Scholven will begin in August 2020.
• The technical planning for the preparation of the bp Lingen grid connection point for the acceptance of hydrogen has started.
• The exchange of information with the approval authorities for the pipeline conversion, the construction of the new pipeline and the construction of the electrolyser has started.

Production of the green hydrogen and supply to customers is to start as early as 2023, provided that the necessary legal and economic framework conditions are adopted and implemented by the necessary legal changes in the coming months. This creates the basis for positive investment decisions by the partners.

Background: transporting H₂ and its role in the energy turnaround

Transporting hydrogen in dedicated networks is something that has been carried out in Germany and other European countries for several decades now. So far, however, these networks have been private ones in the industrial sector without any access for outsiders. 

Producing green hydrogen from wind and solar power makes it possible to transport renewable energies over long stretches, store it on a large-scale for a long time, and use it in sectors which are difficult to be directly electrified. It is for these reasons that the production of green hydrogen and the building-up of hydrogen infrastructure can be important steps on the path to reaching climate targets.