- Letter of intent signed / Bremen H2 production provides impetus for Europe
Bremen / Oldenburg— Energy company EWE and its subsidiary swb, as well as steel manufacturer ArcelorMittal, signed a letter of intent to cooperate on Monday.
The focus of the agreement is green hydrogen production in Bremen. At the power plant site in Mittelbüren, an electrolysis plant with an output of up to 24 megawatts is to be built in the first step, which will supply the steel plant of ArcelorMittal with green hydrogen.
The project not only pays for the National Hydrogen Strategy adopted in June, which aims to make green hydrogen marketable. The project, called “HyBit – Hydrogen for Bremen’s industrial transformation”, also follows the European hydrogen strategy presented by the European Commission last week. This primarily focuses on the decarbonization of large industries.
Dr. Urban Keussen, Chief Technology Officer of EWE AG: “With ‘HyBit’, we are even giving hydrogen a decisive turn towards Europe. Because the production of renewable energies and hydrogen as well as the conversion and construction of network and storage infrastructures in all countries bordering the North and Baltic Seas necessitate joint international efforts. We are thus initiating a European network of hydrogen hubs from northwest Germany. Incidentally, we have the best conditions for this: on- and offshore wind, a maritime economic structure and ports for hydrogen imports, a well-developed gas infrastructure with cavern storage and an energy-intensive steel industry. ”
Dr. Torsten Köhne, CEO of swb AG: “With our new partnership, we want to support ArcelorMittal and Perspectively Bremen as well as the entire northwest with decarbonization. It is important that we start this large-scale application quickly now and try it out in order to become marketable in the next step. To do this, we need funding for the electrolyser and an operating grant for ArcelorMittal. Thanks to our many years of experience in the INGAVER company, we have an extremely good basis for the development of upcoming technical implementations and business processes in connection with hydrogen. ”
Dirk Francis, Member of the Management Board for Primary Technology, ArcelorMittal Bremen: “ArcelorMittal is aiming for CO 2 -neutral steel production in Europe by 2050. By 2030, emissions are to be reduced by 30 percent. The achievement of these goals is based on the use of new technologies that we develop. The use of green hydrogen plays an important role in the Group’s strategy; it contributes to reducing the use of carbon in the pig iron production process. For our location in Bremen, the construction of the electrolysis plant is a milestone on the way to achieving this goal. This is how we create the conditions for CO 2- Significantly reduce emissions from the production of steel. Large quantities of hydrogen and ideally green hydrogen – produced from renewable energies – are required for steel production. We welcome the Federal Government’s H 2 strategy and very much hope that the necessary hydrogen infrastructure can be developed quickly so that we can use sufficient quantities. We also need competitive prices for hydrogen. The current costs for hydrogen are far too high and do not yet make H 2 -based steel production possible. ”
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