TotalEnergies inks green hydrogen offtake contract with RWE

Energy companies TotalEnergies and RWE have confirmed the conditions for purchasing 30,000 metric tonnes of green hydrogen per year for 15 years.

According to RWE, it's the largest quantity of climate-neutral hydrogen ever contracted from an electrolyser in Germany and signals the growing interest in green hydrogen by fuel suppliers looking to reduce their GHG emissions.

The green hydrogen will be produced at RWE's 300MW electrolysis plant in Lingen (GET H2 Nukleus), which will go into operation by 2027, and will be used to decarbonise operations at TotalEnergies' refinery in Leuna (Saxony-Anhalt) from 2030.

This will allow the refinery to save 300,000 metric tonnes of CO2 per year.

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Markus Krebber, CEO of RWE AG: ”We are proud to have secured the first long-term offtake agreement for green hydrogen of this size with TotalEnergies in Germany. Six months after the investment decision for the construction of the 300MW electrolysis plant in Lingen, we have acquired an important anchor customer in TotalEnergies. This shows that hydrogen works with the right incentives for customers.”

The supply of green hydrogen to TotalEnergies will be facilitated by the German hydrogen core network, states RWE, which connects production sites in Lower Saxony with centres of industrial hydrogen consumption, such as Leuna.

The network will consist of 9,040 kilometres of pipelines, around 60% of which are natural gas pipelines that will be converted to hydrogen, requiring an investment of €18.9 billion ($21 billion).

Patrick Pouyanné, chairman and CEO of TotalEnergies: “We are looking forward to developing further our partnership with RWE, our partner in several offshore wind projects in Germany and the Netherlands. This long-term green contract for green hydrogen marks an important milestone in reducing our CO2 emissions at our Leuna refinery. It will be made possible thanks to the completion of the H2 backbone by German authorities and their efficient support to green H2 customers like our Leuna refinery.”

Stephan Weil, Prime Minister of Lower Saxony suggests this contract is an important signal for the development of the green hydrogen economy in Lower Saxony and for Germany at large.
Said Weil: ”Lower Saxony is leading the way in this area in Germany: 50 per cent of the EU-approved production of green hydrogen in Germany is in Lower Saxony, and 20 per cent of the hydrogen core network is being realised in Lower Saxony. Now it is important to further strengthen industry demand and push ahead with the expansion of the hydrogen core network with all our power. We also need to design the framework conditions in such a way that hydrogen projects can be approved more easily and quickly.”

While refineries already make use of large quantities of hydrogen, it comes mainly from natural gas and is therefore not emissions-free. There is increasing pressure on refineries to reduce GHG, which makes green hydrogen an attractive prospect.

To ensure the hydrogen produced can be classified as green, RWE operates its electrolysers with electricity from renewable energy sources. To ensure a reliable supply no matter the weather, RWE Generation will use the booked capacities of the hydrogen storage facility in Gronau-Epe. RWE Gas Storage West, a subsidiary of RWE, plans to start operation of this facility in 2027.