Norwegian company Equinor and German gas company VNG AG have agreed to extend their existing cooperation in natural gas into the new areas of low-carbon hydrogen and ammonia as well as in carbon capture, utilization and offshore storage of CO2 (CCU and CCS).
Article continues below
The partners have also agreed to establish a joint project to evaluate options for producing low-carbon hydrogen on the Baltic Sea coast, specifically in Rostock, using technologies to capture, utilize or transport and safely store CO2 offshore at an industrial scale.
This extended collaboration between Equinor and VNG should also be viewed in the context of the ongoing strengthening and broadening of the 45 years long German–Norwegian energy partnership – supported by the heads of governments of both countries.
Key project elements are:
• Direct imports of low-carbon hydrogen and low-carbon ammonia from Norway for the German hydrogen market.
• Planning, building and operating a Gigawatt scale plant in Rostock, with a projected annual hydrogen production capacity in excess of 230.000 tons, corresponding to 8 to 9 TWh or nearly 20 percent of the current German hydrogen market.
• Carbon footprint reduction of low-carbon hydrogen by more than 95 percent compared to hydrogen without CO2 capture and storage
• Separation and liquefication of nearly two million tons CO2 annually from the hydrogen production.
• Shipping of the liquefied CO2 from Rostock for permanent and safe storage offshore Norway.
The project will be an enabler for:
• A hydrogen and carbon hub in the Rostock area and therefore add value locally and regionally in East Germany.
• Development and repurposing of up to 400 km pipeline for hydrogen between Rostock, Berlin and industrial clusters around Leipzig (IPCEI project “doing hydrogenâ€) – eventually connecting to the national hydrogen grid.
• Scale-up hydrogen storage in large salt caverns of underground gas storages in Bernburg and Bad Lauchstädt in Saxony-Anhalt providing flexibility and security of hydrogen supply.
• Supply hard-to-abate industries with low carbon hydrogen – reducing CO2 emissions from existing unabated use of fossil fuels by millions of tons annually.
• Provide base-load supply of large amounts of low-carbon hydrogen, bridging and complementing increasing renewables-based hydrogen supply.
The production of low-carbon hydrogen in Germany and the management of carbon dioxide opens opportunities for economic development. ■