British Companies Support German Hydrogen Progress
Germany is making significant progress in its green hydrogen initiatives, with British companies playing a key role.
bp’s Lingen Green Hydrogen project has received funding approval through the Important Projects of Common European Interest (IPCEI) program, marking a crucial step forward.
Additionally, ITM Power has signed a contract to work with Shell for the 100MW Refhyne II project, further advancing green hydrogen production in Germany. Both projects demonstrate the strong collaboration between the UK and Germany in driving the energy transition.
bp granted funded for green hydrogen project
British company ‘bp’ has been granted funding, provided jointly by BMWK and Lower-Saxony Government, as part of the European IPCEI Hy2Infra wave for a green hydrogen project in Germany.
The funding will help support the development of a 100MW green hydrogen project next to bp’s Lingen Refinery.
The project aims to install a 100MW electrolyser capable of producing an average of 10-11kt of green hydrogen per year. The renewable power needed for the electrolyser is expected to be supplied by an offshore wind Power Purchase Agreement initially.
Robert Habeck, Federal Minister for Economic Affairs and Climate Protection, commented: “The energy transition remains one of the greatest challenges facing our country, even in the face of further crises and conflicts. By funding hydrogen projects, we are taking an important step towards a climate-neutral and sustainable economy in Europe and beyond.
We are giving the go-ahead for the construction of electrolysers in the three-digit megawatt class, thereby enabling important progress to be made in the domestic production of green hydrogen. An efficient hydrogen infrastructure plays a key role in enabling the decarbonization of industry and the energy sector. Hydrogen pipelines will be the lifelines of industrial centers. This will create the conditions for climate-neutral growth”.
Patrick Wendeler, Head of Country bp Germany added: “Today’s announcement underscores bp’s commitment to Germany as we progress our ‘and, not or’ strategy. Our Lingen refinery has helped provide German industry with the energy it needs for more than 70 years. Decarbonising German industry is a significant challenge, and we are grateful to the German government for helping us – alongside the green hydrogen projects from the IPCEI Hy2Infra wave – to play a small but significant role in helping solve that challenge. With this funding, we’re a step further towards progressing our green hydrogen project in Lingen that would enable us to provide low carbon hydrogen to industrial customers and our Lingen refinery in the future.”
The green hydrogen from this project has the potential to support industrial customers, such as steel and chemicals producers, in an effort to decarbonize production processes in the region, including at bp’s Lingen refinery.
ITM Power to collaborate with Shell
Yorkshire-based company, ‘ITM Power’ has signed a contract for Shell’s REFHYNE II project. ITM will supply 100MW of TRIDENT stacks and skids to the Shell Rheinland Energy and Chemicals Park in Germany. Linde Engineering has been chosen as the EPC integrator and will collaborate closely with ITM.
REFHYNE II will use renewable electricity to produce up to 44,000 kilograms of renewable hydrogen daily, decarbonising fuel production at Shell’s Wesseling refinery. The electrolyser is scheduled to begin operating in 2027.
REFHYNE II has been enabled by various supportive government policies and frameworks. Examples of these are the European Union’s binding targets for renewable hydrogen in industry and transport. Additionally, the German Federal Government’s regulatory framework was beneficial.
Dennis Schulz, CEO of ITM, commented: “Shell is a leading global energy company, and we are proud they have selected us for this prestigious project. The performance of our latest generation electrolyser stacks in the REFHYNE I plant played an important role in Shell’s proceeding to FID, as did their extensive due diligence on our technology and our capability to deliver this large-scale commercial project.”
These developments highlight the role of British companies in Germany’s push towards a green hydrogen economy. The collaborations strengthen ties between the UK and Germany, but most importantly accelerate the global shift towards a low-carbon future.
