EWE approved to connect 320MW facility to German hydrogen backbone

EWE and Gastransport Nord have received approval for a 23.5km hydrogen pipeline that will connect a planned 320MW green hydrogen project in Emden, Germany, to the country’s hydrogen backbone.

Permission from Lower Saxony’s state office for mining, energy, and geology (LBEG) greenlights the pipeline, part of EWE’s Clean Hydrogen Coastline initiative centring hydrogen production, storage, and transportation in the region.

The pipeline could also facilitate EWE’s of 100,000 tonnes of green hydrogen per year to steelmaker Salzgitter for its direct reduced iron project, Salcos, at its Flachstahl site.

Two Salzgitter subsidiaries were  to install 110km of pipes connecting the Emden facility to Salzgitter’s operations.

EWE’s Emden plant will be and targets operations by late 2027.

Western Europe’s wider web of pipelines has seen activity ramp up as TSOs, often backed by the EU’s Connecting Europe Facility funding, advance connections between hydrogen production and industrial users.

Germany’s planned 9,000km network is currently Europe’s largest prospective network and sees connections with neighbouring exporters advancing.

Gasunie, Thyssengas, and Open Grid Europe, an agreement aiming to link the country’s industrial and chemical sector with production, storage, and import facilities in the Netherlands.