Norway wants to supply hydrogen to Germany in the future, initially to supplement and later to replace the German natural gas supply.

To this end, Germany's largest energy supplier concluded an agreement with the Federal Republic and the energy suppliers RWE and Equinor on Thursday, as announced by Federal Minister of Economics Robert Habeck (Greens) on his trip to Oslo.

Christian Geinitz

Business correspondent in Berlin

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The CEOs Markus Krebber (RWE) and Anders Opedal, who accompanied Habeck, signed a strategic energy partnership that provides for the development of a corresponding infrastructure by 2030.

A hydrogen pipeline to Germany and corresponding systems for onward transport in the destination country are to be built.

"The cooperation has the potential to make Norway an important supplier of hydrogen for Germany and Europe," said Equinor boss Opedal.

"This is a unique opportunity to build a hydrogen industry in Norway, where hydrogen can also be used as a raw material for domestic industry."

Krebber added that in order to switch from fossil to climate-friendly fuels, the development of the hydrogen economy is urgently needed.

First of all, it is about the extraction from natural gas, whereby the carbon dioxide is separated and stored ("blue hydrogen"), then about "green hydrogen", which is produced with renewable energies via electrolysis.

"Blue hydrogen in large quantities can start and then become greener and greener," says the RWE boss.

It is about supplying industry with significant quantities, but electricity generation will also benefit: "Our planned investments in hydrogen-capable gas power plants will strengthen the security of supply in a decarbonized electricity sector."

electricity from hydrogen

Norway's Equinor, formerly Statoil, plans to build 2 gigawatts of blue hydrogen capacity by 2030. By 2038, 10 gigawatts are planned.

The "blue" gas is to be fed into a new pipeline serving various countries, which Equinor is currently exploring with Gassco and others.

RWE would buy it and use it in hydrogen-capable gas-fired power plants to produce electricity.

Equinor and RWE also want to work together to produce green, i.e. carbon dioxide-free, hydrogen.

To this end, Norway, Germany and other countries that are interested in the new pipe capacity are examining the possibility of producing hydrogen at sea using offshore wind turbines.

"Offshore wind power is by far the most effective form of renewable power generation," the companies said in a joint press release.

“Combined with electrolysers, offshore wind power will play an important role in ramping up the hydrogen economy.”

Both companies are already working on the so-called Aqua Sector, a project in the North Sea that aims to build an offshore wind farm with a capacity of 300 megawatts.

The wind farm there is to be connected to electrolysers and thus produce green hydrogen directly at sea.

Compensation for fluctuating renewables

RWE and Equinor also want to jointly invest in flexible, hydrogen-capable gas-fired power plants in Germany.

The plants with a capacity of around 3 gigawatts should be in place by 2030.

The hydrogen-capable gas power plants should compensate for the fluctuating feed-in of renewable energies and help to balance the demand for electricity.

To date, coal, gas and nuclear power plants have performed this function.

Habeck's ministry stipulates that the new plants can be operated with 50 percent hydrogen at the time of commissioning.

Both companies are aiming for 100 percent hydrogen by the mid-1930s.

Blue hydrogen was controversial for a long time, especially in the camp of the Greens and environmentalists, but the federal government is now going the way of separation and compression technology (CCS), because green hydrogen is still too expensive and too rare and there is not enough green electricity available for it.

Habeck's trip to Norway should also open doors here, as Norway already has a lot of experience with CCS.

Conventional natural gas is initially required for the new power plants.

It was said that Equinor will supply this to cover the own needs of the joint power plants.

To enable full hydrogen conversion, the natural gas will then be replaced with blue hydrogen.

After the offshore hydrogen production plants have been connected to the planned pipeline, green hydrogen will gradually supplement and eventually replace the blue counterpart for imports into Germany.

In addition, RWE and Equinor are considering joint investments in purely offshore wind projects in Norway and Germany, it said.

The same applies to the production of green hydrogen on land in Norway.