(Essen / Germany) – Energy companies RWE AG and Total Energies SE have signed a 14-year offtake agreement for green hydrogen. According to the agreement, RWE will supply approximately 30.000 tons of the energy carrier annually to Total's refinery in Leuna (Saxony-Anhalt) between 2030 and 2044 – thus becoming the anchor customer for RWE's electrolysis plant in Lingen, northern Germany.
RWE in Lingen: The pilot plant consists of a 4-megawatt alkaline electrolyzer from Sunfire and a XNUMX-megawatt plant designed and built by Linde using a PEM electrolyzer from ITM Power. © RWE AG
Hydrogen production began there last summer with an initial electrolysis capacity of 14 megawatts. This allows 270 kilograms of the energy carrier to be produced per hour. Expansion is planned in several stages up to a capacity of 300 megawatts by 2027.
“This long-term contract for green hydrogen is an important milestone in reducing our CO2 emissions at our refinery in Leuna,” says Patrick Pouyanné, CEO and Managing Director of Total Energies. This will be made possible by the future 9.000-kilometer -long core hydrogen network , which is scheduled to be commissioned gradually between 2025 and 2032 through the repurposing of gas pipelines and the construction of new pipelines. This will also connect Lingen and Leuna.
RWE Generation will store green hydrogen from Lingen in Gronau-Epe to ensure future delivery via the hydrogen core network even on days with little sun and wind. © RWE AG
According to EU law, the electrolyzers may only be operated with electricity from renewable energy sources that was generated in the same hour as the green hydrogen. To ensure that the contractually agreed hydrogen can be supplied even during periods of low sun and wind, RWE Generation has booked capacity at the hydrogen storage facility in Gronau-Epe, which the RWE subsidiary RWE Gas Storage West will commission in 2027.
Refineries already use large quantities of hydrogen today. This comes primarily from fossil natural gas, which causes high CO2 emissions. In Germany, fuel suppliers are encouraged to gradually reduce the greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) generated by their fuels, for example, by 25 percent by 2030. The use of green hydrogen is one way for refineries to prevent CO2 emissions and thus improve their GHG emissions.
250313 – RWE Generation will store green hydrogen from Lingen in Gronau-Epe to ensure future delivery via the hydrogen core network even on days with little sun and wind. © RWE AG
Total Energies has put out a tender for supply quotas for 500.000 tons of green hydrogen per year to decarbonize its refineries in Europe. In addition to Leuna, Total also has demand at its sites in La Mède, Grandpuits, and Normandie (all in France), as well as Antwerp (Belgium), and Zeeland (Netherlands). The use of just 30.000 tons, as in Leuna, would save 300.000 tons of CO2 annually. This is the average annual emission of around 140.000 cars.
According to the company, contracts totaling 200.000 tons have already been signed, including 70.000 tons with Air Products & Chemicals Inc., which are also scheduled for delivery starting in 2030 ( as we reported ).
Photo above
Total refinery in Leuna (Saxony-Anhalt). © Total Energies SE
