RWE starts approval process for building hydrogen storage facility in Gronau

RWE Gas Storage West is contributing toward ramping up the European hydrogen economy as part of the GET H2 initiative.

In this context, a new section for hydrogen is to be constructed at the natural gas cavern storage facilities at Kottiger Hook by 2026. Most of Germany’s first commercial hydrogen cavern storage facility is to be built on the existing RWE site.

Yesterday, RWE submitted the required planning notice to the district government in Arnsberg, formally starting approval proceedings. Part of the general operating planning procedure under German mining law will be a voluntary environmental impact assessment with the participation of authorities, public interest groups and the public.

“Informing local residents and the public about the planned project in a transparent manner is important to us,” emphasises Andreas Frohwein, Technical MD of RWE Gas Storage West.

RWE will hold a number of information events in connection with the project and its progress. People living in the vicinity of the storage facility were already invited to an event and another, in the form of a dialogue exchange in Gronau-Epe, is planned for 9 June 2022; venue and time are yet to be communicated by RWE.

RWE has applied for funding under the IPCEI (Important Projects of Common European Interest) in the hydrogen sector scheme. IPCEI hydrogen is intended to drive the energy transition and in particular decarbonisation forward across Europe by developing technologies for utilising green hydrogen at an industrial scale.

The German Federal Ministry of Economic Affairs and Climate Action and the state government of North Rhine-Westphalia have already selected projects that will receive national funding if the initiative is given the green light at the European level; RWE’s hydrogen storage facility is on that list.

RWE is waiting with its final investment decision until funding commitment is confirmed. However, in order to be able to stick to the ambitious project schedule, RWE is already pushing ahead with the approval procedure and the planning process at its own risk. A decision on funding is expected later this year.