Hydrogen

Low- and zero-carbon hydrogen has numerous applications. It can power vehicles, locomotives, and ships. It can be injected into the gas network and subsequently used to generate electricity. Finally, green hydrogen can be combined with captured carbon dioxide to produce climate-neutral chemicals and green diesel and jet fuel.

All of these applications will significantly reduce emissions. The real game changer, however, will be using hydrogen and derivative fuels to decarbonize high-emission industries that are difficult or impossible to electrify. Hydrogen is likely the only way to put industries like chemicals, steel, and marine and air transport on a realistic path to carbon neutrality.

Uniper is a hydrogen pacesetter. Our two power-to-gas plants in northern Germany have given us more than a decade of experience in using surplus wind power to run electrolyzer equipment that transforms water into zero-carbon hydrogen. We aim to invest around 8 billion euros in our transformation by the early 2030s

We’re also partnering with other top companies - like VNG and Salzgitter and others - to establish a Europe-wide hydrogen infrastructure. Examples include our Energy Transformation Hubs: Northwest in Germany (including Wilhelmshaven, Krummhörn and Huntorf), Maasvlakte in the Netherlands, Killingholme in northeast England. The hubs, which will combine hydrogen production and import, will play a key role in decarbonizing nearby industry.  Another important project is Bad Lauchstädt in eastern Germany. Here, green hydrogen production (30 MW) is combined with storage and distribution. It is an ideal intermediate step to put our assumptions about the future of hydrogen to the test.