FAQ about the GET H2 Nukleus project
One of the first publicly accessible hydrogen infrastructures will run from Lingen to Gelsenkirchen. We answer questions about the project of the GET H2 partners bp, Evonik, Nowega, OGE and RWE hereYour question is not included? Send us an e-mail to info@get-h2.de
The specific amount of investment required is dependent on the ongoing planning stages of the project partners. As a rough guide, a total investment volume of around EUR 200 million is assumed for the first phase up to 2025, with around EUR 130 million being allocated to the construction of an electrolyzer including ancillary facilities (e.g. compressors, pumps).
In the first project phase, the pipeline will have a length of around 130 kilometers by 2025. The majority will consist of existing pipelines from the natural gas network, which will be converted. Evonik and Nowega will lay new pipelines along a 15-kilometer route between Marl and Gelsenkirchen-Scholven and along a three-kilometer section in Lingen.
Further steps are already being planned with a connecting pipeline for the cavern storage facility in Gronau-Epe, a connecting pipeline from Dorsten to Marl as well as a connecting pipeline from Dorsten to Hamborn to connect the Thyssenkrupp steelworks.
To give an initial order of magnitude as an answer:
Hydrogen is already being used in refineries and chemical parks. So far, this hydrogen has been produced from natural gas in so-called steam reformers. As CO2 is emitted during this process, this hydrogen is referred to as grey hydrogen. The alternative is green hydrogen, which is produced from water in an electrolyzer with the help of renewable energies. The savings potential when replacing grey hydrogen with green hydrogen is ten tons of CO2 per ton of hydrogen. A 100 MW electrolyser, as planned for the GET H2 Nukleus project in the first stage, can produce up to two tons of green hydrogen per hour. With flexible operation of 3,750 full-load hours per year, we expect to produce around 7,000 tons of hydrogen per year and corresponding CO2 savings of 70,000 tons per year.
The electrolysis plant in Lingen is to be expanded to 300 MW by 2026. The potential for CO2 savings would then triple.
The hydrogen demand of the consumers connected to the GET H2 Nucleus amounts to a total of 180,000 m3/h. That is around 142,000 tons of hydrogen (with an energy value of approx. 4.7 TWh of hydrogen) per year. If these are completely replaced by green hydrogen, this results in annual savings of around 1.4 million tons of CO2.
Even if the foundations for investment security still need to be laid in some areas, we are working resolutely on implementing the GET H2 Nucleus and are making advance progress in many areas. Work on the building blocks has therefore already begun. RWE has received official approval to operate the electrolysis plant in Lingen and has ordered the components for the first 200 MW electrolysis plant. Nowega started construction of the connection pipeline for the electrolysis plant in Lingen in September 2023. OGE and Nowega began converting the existing pipeline from Emsbüren via Bad Bentheim to Dorsten in October 2023. Commissioning of the entire system is planned for mid-2025.
On the one hand, the regulatory and legal basis. These include the criteria for the procurement of renewable electricity (green electricity procurement) and the financing of hydrogen transportation through the pipelines. This affects the price of green hydrogen and therefore the profitability of the project.
On the other hand, investment security depends on the approval of subsidies. This is primarily the so-called IPCEI (Important Project of Common European Interest) funding from the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy (BMWi). We are currently on the home stretch of the European coordination process and expect the final approvals shortly.
This question cannot be answered in general terms, as the amount of funding required also depends to a large extent on the regulatory and legal framework conditions, some of which have not yet been determined or may still change. As long as key issues, such as the electricity procurement criteria, have not been clarified, there is no investment security.
In the foreseeable future, this project is not expected to result in a significant increase in jobs. Of course, there will be jobs, for example in the production of the electrolysers, the conversion of the pipelines or the production of technical measuring instruments - but the operation of an electrolyser itself is not very labor-intensive. However, the project can provide trend-setting impetus for Germany as an industrial location in the international competition between locations - and thus make domestic jobs more sustainable/future-proof on the one hand, but also strengthen Germany's technological leadership in hydrogen technologies and thus open up new markets and export opportunities, which in turn create jobs.
No. The electrolyzer and the facilities of the gas power plant are housed in separate, non-adjacent buildings. Safety aspects have been thoroughly considered during the planning process. Additionally, the construction of the electrolyzer in the vicinity of the gas power plant offers considerable infrastructural advantages. Not only is there sufficient space available, but also important infrastructure such as connections to the electricity and gas networks.