Norway's Equinor cancels plans to export Blue Hydrogen to Germany
A spokesperson for Equinor, the Norwegian energy company, said that it had scrapped plans to ship so-called "blue hydrogen" to Germany due to its high cost and insufficient demand.
In January 2022, Equinor signed an agreement with Germany's RWE to create a hydrogen supply network for German power plants in order to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
Plans include producing blue hydrogen (hydrogen from natural gas combined with carbon capture and storing) in Norway, and exporting it via the first offshore hydrogen pipeline to gas-powered power plants in Germany that are ready for hydrogen.
The hydrogen pipeline has not proven to be viable. Magnus Frantzen Eidsvold, Equinor spokesperson, said that the hydrogen production plans were also abandoned.
He added, "We've decided to stop this early-phase program."
In an email, RWE said that the pipeline was not their project but needed support from Norway and Germany.
The CEO of Equinor, Anders Opedal, said last year that the costs of the entire supply chain could reach "tens" of billions of euros. He also stated that the pipeline would cost around 3 billion euro ($3.35 billion).
Eidsvold stated that Equinor could not continue to develop the projects unless European buyers committed to importing hydrogen on a long-term basis.
Eidsvold stated that "we are not able make such investments without long-term contracts and markets in place."
Eidsvold stated that plans to develop hydrogen-ready power plants for gas in Germany will proceed, but the hydrogen required will be purchased on the continent and not imported from Norway.
RWE stated that such plants could begin production as early as 2030, provided the German government approves of a support program for hydrogen-ready energy plants.
He added that Equinor would continue to pursue other hydrogen projects in early phases, including those in the UK and Netherlands. Reporting by Nerijus Adomiaitis, Editing by Susan Fenton & Rod Nickel
(source: Reuters)
