RWE, H2U to work on Australia-Germany hydrogen trading

German energy company RWE and Australian hydrogen project developer The Hydrogen Utility (H2U) have teamed up to develop hydrogen trading between these two countries.

A memorandum of understanding (MoU) was signed between the two companies on 15 April 2021 with the aim to bring green hydrogen produced in Australia to Europe.

This is in line with the objective of HySupply, a German-Australian feasibility study which started in December 2020 by the German Academy of Science and Engineering and the Federation of German Industries.

The planned LNG Terminal in Brunsbüttel, where RWE intends to book capacity, is seen as a possible location for the future import of hydrogen into Germany.

H2U wants to build a 75-megawatt electrolysis plant, which can supply hydrogen for about 40,000 tonnes of ammonia annually, at the planned location in South Australia.

RWE is also constructing renewable energy plants in Australia with a large solar farm in Limondale. RWE is driving forward some 30 hydrogen projects, mostly located in the Netherlands, Germany and the UK.

Javier Moret, Global Head of LNG at RWE Supply & Trading, said: “H2 is the perfect long-term solution to decarbonise industry, aviation and the transport of heavy goods. Australia is one of the countries that has excellent conditions to produce green hydrogen – low cost of production and a stable framework. As a globally active trader of commodities, we have a lot of experience with shipping energy carriers – including Australian LNG – around the globe and see ourselves as a facilitator for global hydrogen trading. ”

Attilio Pigneri, H2U’s CEO, added: “H2U is pleased to partner with RWE to explore the possibilities for providing affordable green hydrogen and hydrogen derivatives such as ammonia and synthetic methane to power Germany and Europe’s future. We see the trading of green hydrogen to Europe being fully decarbonised using green ammonia as the shipping fuel of the future. H2U has attracted a cornerstone investment from Mitsubishi Heavy Industries of Japan and we see a strong future for green hydrogen as the decarbonising energy in power grids, gas grids, mobility and industry.”