Tens of millions for green hydrogen production in Groningen and Drenthe

The largest amount (€125 million) goes to RWE to build an electrolyser (hydrogen plant) on the site of the energy company's coal/biomass power plant in Eemshavn. It will have a capacity of 50 megawatts and will produce hydrogen with electricity from the Vestreams wind farm five kilometers away. This is also from RWE.

'Excellent news'

RWE Groningen City Manager Marinus Tabak reports 'excellent news'. According to him, support is crucial to making the project economically feasible.

RWE hopes to make a final investment decision by the end of 2024. The success of this depends in part on whether the hydrogen plant can be connected in time to the hydrogen network that Gasoni is building. The energy group says it has already obtained a building permit and environmental license and is in contact with potential customers. RWE hopes to have the electrolyser in use in 2027.

Important step

The EMS Hydrogen project, as the hydrogen project is called, is an important step in building the hydrogen economy in Groningen, with the EMS Delta Center. It is one of four concrete plans for electrolyzers in the region. This also includes Zealand's VoltH2 project. It also wants to build a 50 MW electrolyzer in Delfzijl. There will also be support for this purpose, but this amount could not be determined on Monday evening. It was not possible to contact the company for an explanation.

There will also be money to purchase small electrolyzers. Hoogezandster Holthausen wants to produce hydrogen itself at its hydrogen filling station on Bornholmstraat in Groningen. To that end, she wants to build a 2.5-megawatt electrolyzer.

New Buinen

The H2Hollandia project in Nieuw-Buinen also receives funds from the Council of Ministers. Contractor Avitec and Groningen Novar (Sustainable Energy Systems) want to produce hydrogen there using a 5-megawatt electrolyzer for the Avitec fleet, among others. For this, they use electricity from the solar park operated by the two companies in the village of Drenthe.

The government has allocated a total of 246 million euros for seven green hydrogen production projects with facilities of up to 50 megawatts. The total capacity of the supported electrolyzers is 101 MW. Of which 96 megawatts will be in Groningen and Drenthe.