German energy firm E.ON is joining forces with Italian Enel and Spanish Iberdrola for the “H2.Ruhr” project to build a hydrogen and ammonia value chain in the Ruhr region to supply cities and companies.

The project that will be built in stages between 2022 and 2032 will create a hydrogen infrastructure starting with renewable generation at new photovoltaic and wind power plants in Italy and Spain. The hydrogen produced in Spain will be used to produce ammonia to be transported to Germany by ship starting in 2024. The green electricity from Italy will be exported to Germany to produce green hydrogen.

“At the same time, E.ON is investigating the extent to which ammonia can be efficiently converted back into hydrogen and made available in the Ruhr region as part of the project," a joint note explains.

By 2025, the project plans to build an electrolyser in Germany with an initial capacity of 20 megawatts.

“The green hydrogen produced either from ammonia or by means of electrolysis will be fed directly into the grid and distributed to the companies. This way, a new regional hydrogen pipeline network between Duisburg and Dortmund is to be successively created by 2032,” E.ON says.

By 2032, up to 80,000 tonnes of hydrogen per year could be produced in the Ruhr region where E.ON has registered an increasing demand for green hydrogen. In the current phase E.ON is conducting a market enquiry to identify potential customers and needs in the Ruhr region, Kallanish notes.