With a large-scale plant, the energy provider EWE is launching an offensive in the generation of hydrogen from renewable sources.
By the end of 2026, Emden in East Frisia is scheduled to have a 320 megawatt electrolysis plant built on a scale appropriate for the market. The energy service provider intends to invest 500 million euros and begin building a hydrogen electrolyser as early as 2023, pending acceptance of a subsidy.
EWE intends to begin building the facility in 2023 and begin producing “green” hydrogen in 2026. The European Commission’s financing clearance is still necessary for the project to be completed.
The electrolysis project will get investments from EWE totaling roughly half a billion euros, based on the existing situation.
EWE decided to build the hydrogen production facility on a piece of land in Borssumer Hammrich, close to significant power lines and the substation of the transmission system operator Tennet. The results of in-depth site analyses later demonstrated that Emden is currently among the top locations for integrating renewable hydrogen generation into the current energy system. EWE can expand on the infrastructure already in place and make use of it for storing and transporting green energy.
A total of 1 billion kWh of green hydrogen will be produced yearly at the Emden hydrogen production facility starting in 2026, saving the steel sector some 400,000 tons of coal. The majority of the water used for hydrogen production, according to EWE, is surface water rather than drinking water.
