Name of the Project
WESTKÜSTE100 project.

Location
Germany.

Project Owner/s
WESTKÜSTE is a cross-industry partnership between EDF Germany, Holcim Germany, OGE, Ørsted, Raffinerie Heide, Stadtwerke Heide, thyssenkrupp Industrial Solutions and Thüga, together with the Region Heide development agency and the Westküste University of Applied Science.

Project Description
WESTKÜSTE100 will be Germany’s first hydrogen project.

The hydrogen will be used to produce climate-friendly fuels for aircraft and as feed into gas grids.

Initially, a 30 MW electrolysis plant with a capacity of 30 MW will be installed. It will provide insight into the operation, maintenance, control and grid serviceability of the plants to transfer them to the next scaling step. This could, for example, be an electrolysis plant with a capacity of 700 MW, for which the electricity is generated by an offshore wind farm.

Thereafter, parallel to the electrolysis operation, a branched hydrogen grid will be built between the refinery, the municipal utilities, a cavern system and the existing natural gas grid on the basis of a ground-breaking pipeline technology. It is planned that a cavern storage system for hydrogen will convert the available wind energy into a continuous stream of hydrogen for industrial use.

Also being examined is whether the oxygen produced during electrolysis can be fed into the combustion process of a regional cement plant, with the aid of an “oxyfuel process”, which could also significantly reduce the plant’s nitrogen oxide emissions. In return, the carbon dioxide produced in the cement plant could be used as a raw material, together with the green hydrogen in the refinery, to produce synthetic hydrocarbons, for example, aviation fuel or chemical raw materials such as methanol.

Potential Job Creation
Not stated.

Capital Expenditure
The project is supported by an €89-million investment.

Planned Start/End Date
The project will be run over five years.

Latest Developments
The project was approved by the Federal Ministry of Economic Affairs and Energy in August 2020.

Key Contracts, Suppliers and Consultants
None stated.

Contact Details for Project Information
WESTKÜSTE100 project, email info@westkueste100.de.