RWE has commissioned its pilot 14MW electrolyser plant (pictured) in Lingen, Germany.
The facility on the site of RWE’s Emsland gas-fired power plant can generate up to 270 kilogrammes of green hydrogen per hour using electricity from renewable sources.
Featuring two different electrolysis technologies, the pilot plant is to provide valuable insights for developing future industrial-scale hydrogen facilities, RWE said.
Its first large commercial electrolyser plant is already being built only metres away.
As part of the GET H2 Nukleus project, a 100MW electrolyser is to be commissioned there by 2025, with its capacity to be expanded to 300MW by 2027.
Markus Krebber, chief executive of RWE, said: “Lingen is one of the most exciting locations of the German energy transition.
“In addition to operating our flexible gas-fired power plant and our state-of-the-art large-scale battery system, we are now also producing green hydrogen here.
“Over the coming years, we will expand our production capacities for green hydrogen at this site further to supply industrial consumers with green molecules and thus support them in their decarbonisation efforts.
“Together with our partner companies, our teams are pioneering these innovative technologies here. The hydrogen economy is extremely complex.
“With the core grid, an import strategy, domestic hydrogen production, and hydrogen storage facilities we have a target picture of the future. We can see a part of this vision becoming reality here and now.”
The Lower Saxony Ministry for the Environment, Energy and Climate Protection provided €8m in funding for the pilot electrolyser that has just been commissioned.
The company has also been granted funding from the federal government and the state of Lower Saxony of more than €490m for constructing the 300MW electrolyser as part of the GET H2 Nukleus project.