(Rostock) – The APEX Group acquires land in Lubmin (Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania) for the construction of electrolysers with an output of up to 600 megawatts. A corresponding agreement has been signed with the seller Disposal Works for Nuclear Systems GmbH (EWN). APEX will build the systems and then operate them themselves.
The properties on the site of the decommissioned Greifswald nuclear power plant in the municipality of Lubmin have a total area of around 5,2 hectares. According to the information, the purchase price is around 1,7 million euros. In addition, another 1,1 hectares would be reserved for acquisition by APEX; the price for this would be set “at a later date”.
Completion of the first expansion stage is planned for 2027; investments would be around 210 million euros. This also includes the development of the necessary infrastructure, reports, study, planning and approval services as well as internal and external personnel costs.
43.000 tons of hydrogen per year
In the final expansion stage, up to 43.000 tons of hydrogen would be produced annually. The electricity used for this comes exclusively from renewable sources, primarily from northern Germany. The company does not provide any specific information about the origin, but elsewhere makes vague references to offshore wind farms northeast of Rügen with an output of 1,5 gigawatts.
In October 2022, the first hydrogen filling station for heavy goods traffic in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania went into operation in Rostock. © APEX Group
In addition, a hydrogen filling station for heavy goods traffic is to be built on an access road to the Lubmin industrial area. APEX has already built the first filling station of this type in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania at the company location in Rostock and has been operating it since October 2022. Further stations planned by APEX for refueling Rebus Regionalbus Rostock GmbH buses and Heidekrautbahn trains in the Barnim district are scheduled to go into operation in 2024 .
“Flow”: connection from Lubmin to Stuttgart
The hydrogen produced on the Baltic Sea is to be transported away via the existing gas infrastructure as part of the “Flow – making hydrogen happen” project. In addition, according to APEX, the connection to the future European hydrogen start-up network is planned.
Sketch of the “Flow – making hydrogen happen” pipeline system, which runs in three steps from the Baltic Sea to southwest Germany. In the future, this corridor is intended to connect five neighboring European countries. © Screenshot from the project page “Flow – making hydrogen happen”
The “flow” lines with a length of 1.100 kilometers connect nine industrial locations from Lubmin in the north to Stuttgart in the south. The first sections would be converted by 2025. The expansion to Baden-Württemberg is expected to be completed in 2028. In the future, expansions into neighboring European countries are possible. The initiators are the transmission system operators Gascade Gastransport GmbH, Ontras GmbH and Terranets BW GmbH. The “associated partners” so far include around two dozen companies from the natural gas and hydrogen sectors, as well as several initiatives and projects.
100 megawatt electrolyser in Rostock
In January, APEX announced the construction of a 100 megawatt electrolysis plant for the production of green hydrogen in Rostock-Laage, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. The project is part of the East German hydrogen hub “Doing Hydrogen” and is supported with funds from the European IPCEI (Important Project of Common European Interest) funding. The expected investment volume there is around 199 million euros.
APEX was founded in 2000 and has focused on electrolysis systems since 2012. In its core business, APEX develops, builds and sells or operates green hydrogen production plants with a capacity of less than one gigawatt. The company has been operating a hydrogen plant in Rostock-Laage since 2020, the electrolysis capacity of which is to be increased from the current two megawatts to up to 2025 megawatts by 22. According to its own information, APEX's project pipeline includes around 50 projects with a total electrolysis capacity of more than 1,7 gigawatts (GW).
At the beginning of this year, the Luxembourg-based Exceet Group SCA, an investment holding company that has been listed in the Prime Standard on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange since 2011, acquired all APEX shares. This means that APEX also went public, at least indirectly. Exceet's main shareholder is the investment company Active Ownership (AOC), which buys, develops and sells companies as part of a “buy & build” strategy. However, APEX will be “Exceet’s sole investment focus” in the future, the company said in January. AOC plans to “accompany APEX in the long term”.
Photos
At the APEX company location in Rostock-Laage there are systems with an electrolysis capacity of two megawatts, which are to be expanded to 2025 megawatts by 22. © APEX Group
