RWE focuses green business expansion on North Rhine-Westphalia

By 2030, RWE wants to expand its core green business. The company intends to invest roughly 15 billion euros in offshore and onshore wind, solar, batteries, flexible backup capacities, and hydrogen in Germany alone.

For North Rhine-Westphalia, this translates to 1,000 MW of renewables, 2,000 MW of flexible and hydrogen-compatible backup capacity, 700 MW of green hydrogen electrolyser capacity, and active structural change support over the next eight years: RWE wants to help North Rhine-Westphalia transform its industrial state with a comprehensive package of measures.

RWE intends to build renewable energy projects in North Rhine-Westphalia with a capacity of 1,000 MW by 2030, with at least 500 MW in the Rhenish mining district. Wind farms and ground-mounted photovoltaic plants will be built by the company, some of which will be combined with electricity storage facilities. Floating and agricultural PV demonstration plants are also in the works. RWE also plans to expand renewable energy to participate in local and regional decarbonization initiatives.

One example is the production of green hydrogen near the manufacturing and transportation facilities where it will be used. In order to implement these projects, state and regional planning and approval processes must be significantly accelerated and simplified, and more land must be allocated accordingly. This must also be true in the case of commercial woodland. Furthermore, the processes for approving repowering work and constructing hybrid PV plants on land that was previously used for opencast mining must be improved.

By 2030, RWE wants to build at least 2,000 MW of gas-fired power plants on its coal-fired power plant sites. The facilities will be “H2-ready,” which means they will be able to quickly adapt to hydrogen fueling once it becomes available in sufficient quantities. RWE’s hard coal and lignite-fired power plants are either already connected to the power, water, and long-distance gas supply grids, or can be easily connected to the infrastructure. This necessitates a system of incentives to make investments in these facilities profitable, as their operating hours will continue to decrease in the future, emitting less and less CO2.

Furthermore, from the mid-2030s onwards, it must be clarified as soon as possible how the hydrogen will get to these locations.

Hydrogen will be critical to the economy’s decarbonization. North Rhine-Westphalia, as a traditional industrial state, is well positioned to establish a viable hydrogen economy, thanks in part to its excellent connectivity to the Dutch supply grids. RWE is a driving force behind the hydrogen economy’s expansion. In North Rhine-Westphalia, the company wants to promote the development of electrolysers with a capacity of up to 700 MW. This necessitates federal and state governments putting in place funding schemes.

RWE has remained active in structural change processes, particularly in the Rhenish mining district. In practical terms, this includes support for businesses and industry relocating to the area through active land use management. In collaboration with the state government, the goal is to convert selected plant and mining sites.

Close collaboration with the Indeland, Garzweiler, and Hambach initiatives will be maintained for repurposing land that was previously used for opencast mining, in order to ensure that the region’s interests are considered during the recultivation process.