Germany – RWE has commissioned its 14-megawatt pilot electrolyser. The plant at the Emsland power plant site can generate up to 270 kilograms of green hydrogen per hour using electricity from renewable sources.
RWE is using the pilot plant to gain insight into the development and operation of systems on an industrial scale. The pilot electrolyser consists of two subsystems: a 10 MW alkaline electrolyser from Sunfire and a 4 MW plant designed and built by Linde using a proton exchange membrane (PEM) electrolyser from ITM Power.
Initially, the hydrogen produced in the pilot plant will be added to the fuel for the power plant’s gas turbine unit D as part of an extensive test program at the site. Starting in mid-2025, it will also be possible to fill hydrogen-powered vehicles with hydrogen from the pilot plant at the Emsland gas-fired power plant. Construction work on a hydrogen filling station and trailer hydrogen refueling plant has already begun.
The first large commercial electrolyser plant is already being built just a few meters away. As part of the GET H2 Nukleus project, a 100 MW electrolyser is to be commissioned there by 2025, with capacity to be expanded to 300 MW by 2027.
Lower Saxony’s Ministry of the Environment, Energy and Climate Protection has provided eight million euros in funding for the pilot electrolyser just put into operation. The company has also received funding from the federal government and the state of Lower Saxony of more than 490 million euros for the construction of the 300-MW electrolyser as part of the GET H2 Nukleus project.
