FFI and E.ON partner on supplying green hydrogen to Europe

Fortescue Future Industries (FFI) and E.ON partner to deliver around 5 million tonnes/year of green renewable hydrogen (GH2) to Europe by 2030.

Under the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), each side has committed to a research and study partnership, with further detailed documentation and steps required related to supply.

The aim is to lead the decarbonisation of Europe and to strengthen the security of the green energy supply at a time when Europe needs to reduce its energy dependence on fossil fuels from Russia as quickly as possible. The 5 million tonnes/year of renewable GH2 equals around one-third of the calorific energy Germany imports from Russia.

It is intended that such large amounts of renewable GH2 will be powered by Australia’s immense renewable resources and FFI’s other planned global projects and will be distributed by E.ON.

The two companies will work together in the spirit of the Australia-Germany Hydrogen Accord announced in June 2021 at the G7.

This will help to decarbonise thousands of medium-sized enterprises all over Germany and the Netherlands, and other European cities and communities to which E.ON distributes energy.

Dr Andrew Forrest, Chairman and Founder of FFI, said, “Green energy will reduce fossil fuel consumption dramatically in Germany and quickly help substitute Russian energy supply while creating a massive new employment-intensive industry in Australia.”

Robert Habeck, Vice Chancellor of Germany, commented, “The race for large scale production and transportation of green hydrogen has taken off. The agreement between E.ON and FFI is a major step forward and puts them in a pole position for the delivery of green hydrogen to German industry.”

Leo Birnbaum, CEO of E.ON, noted, “Two major international companies are joining forces to build a “hydrogen bridge” from Australia to Germany and the Netherlands, based on shared values and the joint capability of realising the scale of such a project.”