RWE AG, an Essen-based German energy group, looks to build a hydrogen-compatible combined cycle power plant having a capacity of 850 MW at the site of its previous power station based in western Germany’s Voerde, therefore seeking to contribute to the long-term energy security of the country.
It is well to be noted that the German government announced plans to soon go ahead and create a regulatory framework pertaining to tenders for hydrogen-compatible gas-fired power plant. RWE confirmed that it is currently preparing to take part in the tenders. If it gets awarded the contract, it is going to start building the plant and have it operational by 2030. Once the plant is commissioned, the facility is going to be able to use a minimum of 50% hydrogen. Subsequently, it could very well get converted to run completely on hydrogen.
Nikolaus Valerius, CEO of RWE, said that they are indeed prepared to go ahead and invest in the construction of hydrogen-compatible gas-fired power plant. He added that they are also pressing ahead with the approval planning for the plant in Voerde, which would help with the completion by 2030. But according to him, they now need a pretty rapid clarity coming from the federal government concerning the announced tendering regime.
Apparently, the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy – BMWE recently confirmed that it looks forward to offering clarity by the end of 2025 related to tenders when it comes to new controllable capacities, especially the gas-fired power plants with the possibility of conversion to hydrogen. It is well to be noted that the conditions and scope of the tenders, along with the specific division between power plant strategy and capacity mechanism, happen to be a subject of intensive discussions between the European Commission and the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy.
Overall, the government looks forward to subsidizing a minimum of 20 GW of gas-fired power plants by the end of the decade. 1Komma5, the German cleantech unicorn, however, has recently gone ahead and filed a complaint with the European Commission, thereby claiming that the strategy is going to distort competition and, at the same time, unnecessarily drive up the expenditures related to energy transition.