The energy supplier EWE has announced the official start of construction for a 320-megawatt electrolysis plant in Emden. The plant is part of the "Clean Hydrogen Coastline" project and is one of the largest hydrogen projects in Europe to date. With the awarding of civil and structural engineering works to a consortium of construction companies Ludwig Freytag, Gebrüder Neumann, and MBN, the concrete implementation now begins.
From the end of 2027, the plant is expected to produce green hydrogen from renewable energies and supply it to industrial customers. EWE sees this as an important step for the market ramp-up of the hydrogen economy. "With the start of construction, we are taking a decisive step from planning to implementation," says Stefan Dohler, CEO of EWE AG. The commissioning of experienced construction companies creates the necessary planning security to begin marketing the hydrogen.
Electrolyser in connection with H2 salt cavern storage, the German H2 core network, and the "European Hydrogen Backbone"
The electrolysis plant is part of an integrated overall concept that includes not only production but also storage and transport. This includes a large-scale hydrogen storage facility in Huntorf, Lower Saxony, as well as a pipeline connection between Wilhelmshaven, Leer, and Emden. This infrastructure is to be connected to the national hydrogen core network and the European Hydrogen Backbone.
EWE calls for political reforms
With regard to the political framework, Dohler refers to the recent report by the German Federal Court of Auditors on the national hydrogen strategy. This shows that the market ramp-up needs to be accelerated and made more economical. "For hydrogen to play a key role in climate protection and competitiveness, we need reliable and practical framework conditions," says Dohler. EWE is calling for a reform of the RFNBO rules (Renewable Fuels of Non-Biological Origin), competitive electricity prices for electrolysers, and binding demand impulses such as quotas for green industrial products.
Three sub-projects under the "Clean Hydrogen Coastline" umbrella:
1) In Emden, a 320-megawatt plant is being built for the first time as a market-relevant scale electrolyser.
2) In Huntorf, in northwestern Germany, an existing natural gas storage facility is being converted into a hydrogen cavern storage. EWE has already demonstrated in a research project in Rüdersdorf that hydrogen can be stored and retrieved in salt caverns with high purity.
3) In the third sub-project, the existing gas infrastructure in the northwest is being upgraded for hydrogen. The goal is to connect to the national and European hydrogen network.
With the project, EWE aims to establish a complete hydrogen value chain in northwestern Germany – from production to storage to transport.
