Investors scrap pioneering green hydrogen plant in Germany because of costs

One of Europe’s first plants to produce green hydrogen on a large scale in northern Germany has been scrapped due to high construction costs, reports public broadcaster NDR.

The investors – a consortium that includes the Heide refinery, Danish utility Orsted and French utility EDF’s German subsidiary Hynamics – said the project had become too expensive and carried too much economic risk, making long-term operation unviable regardless of the agreed subsidies.

Therefore, the group pulled the plug on the construction of a 30MW electrolyser, which was only meant to be the first stage of the project.

The companies joined forces more than three years ago to build the so-called “H2 Westküste” hydrogen production plant.

The federal government agreed to support the project with 36 million euros, of which 1 million euros have already been spent, a consortium spokesperson told NDR.

The decision also spells the end of a sub-project to use green hydrogen for heating homes by blending it with natural gas.

But regional environment minister Tobias Goldschmidt said another even larger electrolyser plant at the Heide refinery run by a very similar investment consortium dubbed “Hyscale 100” was still on track. The consortium plans an electrolyser capacity of 500MW by 2026, which could later be scaled up further.

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