TotalEnergies and RWE have signed an agreement for the procurement of green hydrogen over a period of 15 years.
Under the agreement, TotalEnergies will purchase around 30,000 tonnes of green hydrogen per year from RWE for its refinery in Leuna, Germany (pictured) from 2030.
TotalEnergies needs significant amounts of green hydrogen to decarbonize its refineries in Europe.
The company put out to tender 500,000 tonnes per year throughout Europe.
The contractually agreed 30,000 tonnes will be produced at RWE’s 300MW electrolysis plant in Lingen (GET H2 Nucleus), which will be operational by 2027.
This is the largest amount of climate-neutral hydrogen ever contracted by an electrolysis plant in Germany, RWE said.
German fuel suppliers such as refineries are being called upon to gradually reduce their greenhouse gas emissions over time.
The use of 30,000 tonnes of green hydrogen in a refinery saves 300,000 tonnes of CO2 annually, RWE said.
Markus Krebber, chief executive of RWE, said: “We are proud to have signed the first long-term purchase agreement for green hydrogen of this size with Total Energies in Germany.
Six months after the investment decision to build our 300MW electrolysis in Lingen, we have secured an important anchor customer in TotalEnergies.
“This shows that hydrogen works with the right incentives for customers.”
Patrick Pouyanné, chairman and chief executive of TotalEnergies, added: “We are looking forward to further expanding our partnership with RWE, our partner in several offshore wind projects in Germany and the Netherlands.
“This long-term green hydrogen contract is an important milestone in reducing our CO2 emissions at our refinery in Leuna.
“This is made possible by the completion of the H2 core network by the German authorities and their efficient support for green H2 customers such as our refinery in Leuna.”
RWE operates its electrolysers with electricity from renewable energy sources. According to EU law, these electrolysers may only be operated with renewable electricity that was generated in the same hour as the hydrogen.
In order to be able to reliably supply the contractually promised hydrogen even in times of low sun and wind, RWE Generation is using booked capacities of the hydrogen storage facility in Gronau-Epe.
A subsidiary of RWE, RWE Gas Storage West, plans to put this into operation in 2027.