(Wilhelmshaven/Düsseldorf) – The energy supplier Uniper SE wants to build a “national hub for hydrogen” in Wilhelmshaven. An import terminal for green ammonia and an “ammonia cracker”, a device that breaks down ammonia (NH3) into its components hydrogen and nitrogen, are planned.
An electrolysis plant of 410 megawatts is also planned. The import terminal and electrolysis together would produce around 295.000 tonnes of hydrogen and, according to the company, “can cover around ten percent of the demand for all of Germany in 2030”. The hydrogen produced should serve to supply local industry, but can also be fed into a future national hydrogen network. The planned German green hydrogen production is forecast at 2030 terawatt hours (TWh) in 14, but demand in the same year is estimated at 90 to 110 TWh, according to David Bryson, Chief Operating Officer at Uniper: “The discrepancy is abundantly clear.”
Commissioning in the second half of the decade
The commissioning of the new terminal is planned for the second half of this decade - after carrying out a feasibility study and depending on national import needs and export supply. Uniper proposed the project called “Green Wilhelmshaven” with a combination of hydrogen import and production to create a common European hydrogen market and submitted it to the Federal Ministry of Economics for funding as an “Important Project of Common European Interest” (IPCEI).
Uniper had originally examined the construction of a floating import terminal for liquefied natural gas (LNG) at its Wilhelmshaven site. However, a market test in October 2020 showed that there is currently too little interest in the long-term booking of large LNG capacities in Germany. There were also protests from environmentalists. The German Environmental Aid (DUH) also welcomed the cancellation of plans for a liquefied natural gas terminal, “whose operation would have involved the import of fracking gas that is particularly harmful to the climate and the environment”.
Hard coal power plant is shut down
In January last year, Uniper presented a decommissioning plan for the hard coal-fired power plants in Germany. It is planned to take the blocks in Gelsenkirchen Scholven, Heyden, Staudinger and Wilhelmshaven with a total output of around 2025 megawatts off the grid by the end of 2.900 at the latest. In Wilhelmshaven (757 megawatts), electricity production will now end in December 2021 after the group received the Federal Network Agency's contract to decommission it in January of this year. David Bryson assumes that Uniper will need until the end of 2022 to prepare the site for new activities.
The company is based in Düsseldorf and, according to its own information, is currently the third largest listed German energy supplier. The portfolio also includes nuclear power plants. When presenting its annual balance sheet in March, Uniper announced that it would build one gigawatt of solar and wind energy by 2025 and a further three gigawatts in the following years.
Several hydrogen projects in progress
The group is involved in several hydrogen projects internationally and is investigating, among others, HH2e, Siemens Energy, HHLA, Airbus and the city of Hamburg the possibility of producing and providing green hydrogen as well as green process and district heating at the Hamburg-Moorburg location.
In the Netherlands, Uniper and the Port of Rotterdam Authority have initiated an investigation into the large-scale production of green hydrogen in the Maasvlakte industrial and port area. The aim is to build a hydrogen plant with a capacity of 2025 megawatts on the Uniper site in 100 and to later expand its capacity to 500 megawatts.
Since March 2020, Uniper has been majority owned by the Finnish power plant operator Fortum Oyj, in which the Finnish state in turn holds the majority.
deep link
https://www.uniper.energy/news/de/uniper-will-wilhelmshaven-zum-knotenpunkt-fuer-klimafreundlichen-wasserstoff-machen
https://www.duh.de/presse/pressemitteilungen/pressemitteilung/weckruf-fuer-alle-geplanten-fluessigerdgas-terminals-in-deutschland-uniper-bestaetigt-endgueltiges-aus/
Photos
Wilhelmshaven / (c) Federal Institute for Hydraulic Engineering
