RWE to Supply Green Hydrogen to TotalEnergies’ Leuna Refinery

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RWE to Supply Green Hydrogen to TotalEnergies’ Leuna Refinery

RWE has signed an agreement to supply an annual volume of 30,000 metric tons of renewable hydrogen for 15 years to help decarbonize TotalEnergies SE’s Leuna refinery in the German state of Saxony-Anhalt. The hydrogen will come from RWE’s 300-megawatt electrolyzer in the town of Lingen, state of Lower Saxony. “Green hydrogen storage will be […]

The hydrogen will come from RWE’s 300-megawatt electrolyzer in the town of Lingen, state of Lower Saxony. “Green hydrogen storage will be provided locally”, TotalEnergies said in an online statement. “The green hydrogen will be delivered by a 600-km [372.82 miles] pipeline to the gates of the refinery and will prevent the site’s emission of some 300,000 tons of CO2 [carbon dioxide] beginning in 2030.

“This is the largest quantity of green hydrogen ever contracted from an electrolyzer in Germany”.

Using 30,000 metric tons of electyrolytic hydrogen in a refinery avoids 300,000 metric tons a year of CO2, the equivalent of annual emissions from 140,000 cars, Essen-based RWE noted in a separate press release.

RWE intends to tap on a hydrogen storage facility in Gronau-Epe in the state of North Rhine-Wesphalia to reliably deliver the hydrogen for TotalEnergies even during times of little wind or sun. It expects to put the storage facility into service 2027.

“The supply relationship between RWE and TotalEnergies will be facilitated by the German hydrogen core network”, RWE said.

The EUR 18.9 billion ($20.54 billion) network has an approved length of 9,040 kilometers (5,617.2 miles) across domestic borders in Germany, about 60 percent of which would be repurposed existing natural gas pipelines, according to project implementer FNB Gas e.V. The first major pipeline in the network is expected to go online this year. The HCN is expected to be completed 2032.

Patrick Pouyanné, chair and chief executive of the French energy giant, commented, “We are looking forward to developing further our partnership with RWE, our partner in several offshore wind projects in Germany and the Netherlands”.

RWE chief executive Markus Krebber said, “We are proud to have secured the first long-term offtake agreement for green hydrogen of this size with TotalEnergies in Germany”.

Lower Saxony Prime Minister Stephan Weil said, “This contract also sends an important signal to the important energy city of Lingen and for the development of a hydrogen economy in Lower Saxony and throughout Germany”.

“The production and marketing of green hydrogen on an industrial scale, which we as a state also support financially, is an essential prerequisite for the successful transformation of our industry towards climate neutrality”, Weil added. “Lower Saxony is leading the way in this area in Germany: 50 percent of the EU-approved production of green hydrogen in Germany is in Lower Saxony, and 20 percent of the hydrogen core network is being realized in Lower Saxony.

“Now it is important to further strengthen industry demand and push ahead with the expansion of the hydrogen core network with all our power. We also need to design the framework conditions in such a way that hydrogen projects can be approved more easily and quickly”.

“Saxony-Anhalt is a land of the chemical industry as well as of renewable energies”, said Saxony-Anhalt Minister-President Reiner Haseloff. “Green hydrogen is an important link between these two industries”.

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