Drees & Sommer has been commissioned to oversee project steering, approval procedures, and engineering management. The company has also supervised the tendering and awarding of the electrolyzer contract, the plant’s main component.
“I am delighted that Drees & Sommer is on board with the project. We can count on a reliable service provider with many years of experience in managing large-scale projects,” said Kerstin Kuwan, who is responsible for the project at EWE.
The planned electrolysis plant in Emden will produce up to 26,000 metric tonnes of green hydrogen annually for various industrial applications in the region, particularly for the steel industry. The hydrogen will primarily be produced using wind power.
In addition to the project in Emden, EWE plans to build a 50MW electrolysis plant in Bremen. This will be realized by the city’s municipal utility, Stadtwerke Bremen (SWB), a wholly owned subsidiary of EWE. Both projects are crucial for alleviating grid bottlenecks.
These electrolysis projects are part of EWE’s broader Clean Hydrogen Coastline (CHC) project, which integrates the generation, transport, storage, and use of green hydrogen. EWE secured funding for CHC under the European Important Project of Common European Interest (IPCEI) program in February 2021.
Dr. Robert Habeck, Federal Minister for Economic Affairs and Climate Protection, presented the national funding notice for EWE’s project in Berlin in mid-July. Of the 500 million euros in funding, 350 million are German federal funds, with 150 million provided by the federal state government. The total investment for the CHC projects exceeds 800 million euros.
As part of the CHC project, EWE also plans to repurpose a gas cavern in Huntorf (Lower Saxony) for hydrogen storage, construct and convert several pipeline sections, and promote the cross-sector use of green hydrogen on an industrial scale.
