GET H2 projects

In the first step, the GET H2 partners are jointly connecting the production of green hydrogen with industrial customers in Lower Saxony and North Rhine-Westphalia. The approximately 130-kilometer network from Lingen to Gelsenkirchen is one of the first parts of the hydrogen core network – an H₂ network in the regulated area with non-discriminatory access and transparent prices..

• The green hydrogen will be generated from wind power in Lingen, Lower Saxony. To this end, an electrolysis plant with a capacity of 300 MW is being built at the site of the RWE power plant in Lingen.
• Existing gas pipelines of the transmission system operators Nowega and OGE are being converted to transport 100 percent hydrogen.
• Nowega build a new pipeline to connect the electrolysis with the main pipeline leading towards the Ruhr area, and Evonik constructed a partial new pipeline between the Marl Chemical Park and bp’s Ruhr Oel refinery Gelsenkirchen.
• The climate-neutral raw material can be transported to industrial customers via this infrastructure.
• Nowega and OGE are connecting the gas storage facilities of RWE Gas Storage West in Gronau-Epe via another new pipeline. A new cavern storage facility for hydrogen is being built there.

Further important steps to expand the infrastructure and increase the performance will be implemented in the second step:

• The network is expanded to the Dutch border. The connection to the import point Vlieghuis will be implemented by GET H2 partner Thyssengas. The transmission system operator is converting existing gas pipelines between Kalle, Ochtrup and Vlieghuis to transport 100% hydrogen. This step will create the connection to the Dutch hydrogen network HYNETWORK. This pipeline network connects Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium and France and connects the port of Rotterdam as an important import point.
• Salzgitter AG is commissioning an electrolyser at its steelworks, which is supplied with electricity from wind energy. This is part of the SALCOS project, Salzgitter AG’s climate initiative to make steel production climate-friendly.
• By building the new pipeline from Dorsten to Hamborn, OGE and Thyssengas are creating an additional connection in the direction of the Ruhr area to connect the ThyssenKrupp steelworks, which is also converting its production to hydrogen-fuelled direct reduction plants.

The final step is to connect Salzgitter AG via existing Nowega gas pipelines, which will be converted to transport hydrogen. By using the green hydrogen in refineries, in steel production and for other industrial uses, the overall project has a CO₂ avoidance potential of up to 16 million tonnes.

Several projects within the GET H2 initiative are subsidised as Important Project of Common European Interest (IPCEI) with federal and state funds.