Electric Hydrogen (EH2) will design a 200MW electrolyser plant to power green hydrogen production at Uniper’s Wilhelmshaven project in Northern Germany.
Selected as the project’s “exclusive electrolysis partner,” EH2’s unit will be built on the site of Uniper’s former coal-fired power plant.
It will form part of a planned 1GW of green hydrogen production, which will sit alongside a 2.6 million tonne per year green ammonia terminal. Both the electrolyser plant and import terminal were selected as Projects of Common Interest (PCI) by the EU.
H2 View has contacted EH2 and Uniper to confirm plans for the remaining 800MW of electrolysis.
Having already started preliminary front-end engineering design (pre-FEED) work on the 200MW plant, EH2’s PEM electrolyser unit will be a fully integrated system, aimed to reduce hydrogen production costs and EPC work.
The companies have not disclosed a date for construction or commissioning of the electrolyser.
With the Wilhelmshaven site due to be connected to Germany’s 9,000km hydrogen core network (HCN) and underground storage sites, EH2 and Uniper believe the development could meet a “significant quantity” of the nation’s green hydrogen demand.
Susanne Thöle, Director of Hydrogen for Uniper, said, “Uniper’s hydrogen project is a cornerstone of our plans to shape the energy transition.
“We’re excited to begin the pre-FEED work on this project with Electric Hydrogen, in whom we have found a partner who understands our goals and supports our vision.”
Raffi Garabedian, CEO of EH2, “We’re excited to help them fulfill this mission by bringing our advanced electrolysis technology and low project cost to Wilhelmshaven as their exclusive electrolysis partner.
“Electric Hydrogen was founded to make the switch from fossil fuels to zero-carbon green hydrogen an economic inevitability. Green Wilhelmshaven is a monumental step toward that goal.”
EH2 is currently commercialising its flagship 100MW electrolyser plant. Modularised and standardised, the firm has been constructing its first unit for deployment with New Fortress Energy in Texas.
Garabedian previously told H2 View that Europe was the “primary driver” of green hydrogen, emphasising the impact of the EU’s Renewable Energy Directive II (RED II).
“Europe is the primary driver of demand right now, globally, because of RED II and the RFNBO [definition],” the CEO told H2 View.
Europe has leapfrogged US as a green hydrogen hotspot, says EH2 boss
Raffi Garabedian, CEO & Co-Founder © Electric Hydrogen
The US is not the most attractive location for making green hydrogen right now, despite the production incentives built into 2022’s Inflation Reduction Act (IRA).
That’s the eye-catching assessment of Raffi Garabedian, CEO of California and Massachusetts electrolyser firm Electric Hydrogen (EH2), which launched in 2021 with big plans from early on to deploy its 100MW modularised and standardised PEM electrolyser plants.
“When the IRA came out, we completely turned our attention to the US,” said Garabedian. “We thought the US was a big market – and that was a big mistake…
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