RWE, Shell, Gasunie, Equinor to make offshore hydrogen in Germany

Germany’s RWE AG (ETR:RWE), Royal Dutch Shell Plc (AMS:RDSA), Norway’s Equinor (NYSE:EQNR) and Dutch gas network company Gasunie plan to jointly build a 300-MW electrolyser in the German North Sea to produce green hydrogen from offshore wind.

A declaration of intent for the AquaSector project was signed last week, setting the stage for a detailed feasibility study to begin, RWE said on Friday. The ultimate goal of the scheme is to produce up to 20,000 tonnes of green hydrogen at sea per year and transport it to the Heligoland islands. Supply via the so-called AquaDuctus pipeline are due to be launched by 2028.

The project aims to demonstrate that in Germany, offshore-based hydrogen production enables an efficient, cost-effective and sustainable way to produce green hydrogen, RWE said.

The partners will implement the project as part of the AquaSector consortium. They see the scheme as a “proof of concept” for the execution of the AquaVentus plan that envisages producing green hydrogen at sea from 10 GW of offshore wind in the North Sea by 2035. The tie-up counts more than 60 members.

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