Wintershall Dea and NWO plans for hydrogen production in Wilhelmshaven
Hydrogen is a crucial component of a climate-neutral energy supply, but Germany faces a significant capacity gap.
Wintershall Dea and Nord-West Oelleitung (NWO) will have signed an MoU to collaborate on Wintershall Dea’s BlueHyNow project.
A plant for producing large volumes of hydrogen using Norwegian natural gas is being planned by Wintershall Dea, Europe’s largest independent gas and oil producer. BlueHyNow is part of the EnergyHub currently under construction in Wilhelmshaven.
NWO has a partly unused pipeline infrastructure in the region, expertise in raw material transportation and storage, and a site at the deepwater port in Wilhelmshaven. The two companies signed a memorandum of understanding on 2 August and planned to complete a feasibility study by the end of the year. The study will explore the construction of a hydrogen production plant on the NWO site in Wilhelmshaven.
The hydrogen produced can be delivered by pipeline to industrial customers for use as a decarbonised energy source or as raw material, so reducing their CO2 emissions.
According to current forecasts, hydrogen demand will rise from 55 TWh/year today to 90 – 110 TWh/year as early as 2030. The current plans in the German government’s coalition agreement focus on hydrogen based on electricity from renewable energies and will only add around 28 TWh/year.
This is where Wintershall Dea comes in. The company wants to support the development of the hydrogen market with BlueHyNow and its capacity of 5.6 TWh/year. The CO2 generated during production will be captured and then shipped to Norway and Denmark for safe and permanent storage in deep geological rock layers under the seabed.
Hugo Dijkgraaf, board member and Chief Technology Officer (CTO) at Wintershall Dea, said, “At the Wilhelmshaven site, NWO and Wintershall Dea complement each other perfectly. Along the value chain, from the production of hydrogen to its distribution to consumers, we want to pull together as partners in the future and accelerate the development of the urgently needed hydrogen network.”
Dr Jörg Niegsch, Managing Director of NOW, said, “Together with Wintershall Dea, we are making our contribution to the energy transition, becoming part of the new EnergyHub in Wilhelmshaven and continuing to be a reliable and relevant partner for supply security.”
