Germany – The operating company “Nukleus Green H2,” a subsidiary of RWE, has been given permission by the relevant Oldenburg authority to build and operate the first two 100 Megawatt (MW) electrolysers on the site of the RWE gas-fired power plant in Lingen as part of the GET H2 Nukleus hydrogen project.
Up to 35,000 tonnes of green hydrogen can be produced annually by the 200 MW facility. With the help of the hydrogen, industrial businesses should be able to considerably lower their carbon emissions. The electrolyser project at Lingen is the first large-scale hydrogen manufacturing facility in Germany.
The Oldenburg Trade Inspectorate has officially awarded the certificate of approval, seven months after confirming that the 2,250-page application dossier filed was comprehensive. Building and operating such massive plants in Germany requires clearance based on the Federal Emission Control Act. In the process, all pertinent possible consequences, such as emissions, must be thoroughly assessed. Exactly which technical, organizational, and environmental standards must be followed during construction and operation is laid out in the authority’s 78-page approval document.
Lingen facility
A crucial component of RWE’s hydrogen strategy is the Lingen facility. As part of the GET H2 project, the company there hopes to deploy hydrogen generating capacity of 300 megawatts in 100-megawatt increments by 2027. To test the effectiveness of two electrolyser technologies (PEM and pressurized alkali) that are being explored for future hydrogen projects, RWE will already start up a 14 megawatt pilot plant in Lingen by the end of 2023.
The German federal states and government proposed several large-scale hydrogen projects for funding under the “Important Projects of Common European Interest” (IPCEI) initiative in 2021, including GET H2 Nukleus. A legally binding pledge for money has not yet been made, though. The operating company still placed the first two 100-megawatt electrolysers on order in January to make sure that, should finance be approved, the scheduled commissioning dates may still be met.
