Renewable hydrogen produced at RWE’s electrolysis site in Lingen, Lower Saxony, has reached Evonik’s Marl Chemical Park, marking a major milestone for the integrated GET H2 Nukleus project and the emerging hydrogen network in Germany.

 

The first hydrogen generated during the commissioning of RWE’s two 100-megawatt electrolysis plants in Lingen has been transported around 120 kilometres through a pipeline network operated by Nowega, OGE and SYNEQT, Evonik’s subsidiary. The hydrogen is now available for industrial production processes at the Marl site.

 

The successful delivery brings together the key elements of the project — renewable hydrogen production, dedicated transport infrastructure and industrial consumption — under real operating conditions.

 

“With GET H2 Nukleus, our first hydrogen pipelines are now entering network operation. This is an important step in establishing a hydrogen economy in the region and in Germany,” says Thomas Hüwener, CEO of OGE. 

 

"At the same time, the project is creating important foundations for the future market design and allowing us to test key processes such as network access, capacity booking and balancing under real operation conditions.”

 

The project is being developed as Germany accelerates construction of its national hydrogen backbone. Parts of GET H2 Nukleus are funded by the German federal government and the states of Lower Saxony and North Rhine-Westphalia through the EU’s IPCEI Hy2Infra programme. The pipelines involved are among the first sections of Germany’s planned hydrogen core network.

 

Nikolaus Valerius, CEO of RWE Generation SE, says: “The fact that certified renewable hydrogen from Lingen has reached Marl via pipelines shows that electrolysis, transport infrastructure and industrial offtake can work together. We are now moving ahead quickly towards the full commissioning of our electrolysers. Over the coming months, we will prepare the plants for commercial operation.”

 

RWE is commissioning 200 megawatts of electrolysis capacity in Lingen by the end of 2026. The facility is scheduled to reach its full planned capacity of 300 megawatts from 2027.

 

The project also provides an early test of how the wider hydrogen market will operate, including network access, capacity booking and balancing.

 

“The early exchange and joint project development with the first customers using the transport infrastructure as part of GET H2 have paid off,” says Frank Heunemann, Managing Director of Nowega. 

 

“By starting at an early stage and working together constructively, we are creating important momentum for the design of the new overall system. We are now moving into the practical phase, where the individual elements will work together in operation.”