Norwegian state-owned energy firm Equinor and German power producer RWE just announced plans to build hydrogen-fueled power plants in Germany over the next few years, as well as a major pipeline between the two countries to feed them. The agreement is part of Germany’s strategy to phase out all coal-fired power stations by 2030 and decarbonize its energy sector. The power plants will be jointly owned by RWE and Equinor, and will initially run on natural gas produced in Norway before transitioning to “blue” hydrogen, also produced in Norway using natural gas and pumped through the underwater pipeline. More than 95% of the carbon dioxide emitted during the production of hydrogen will be captured and stored under the seabed. Equinor plans to develop a 2 gigawatt production capacity for “blue” hydrogen by 2030. The ultimate aim is to generate so-called “green” hydrogen using renewable energy produced by offshore wind farms.
The European Union has a target to build a 40 gigawatt renewable hydrogen production capacity by 2030. Read more on CNN.com
