LINGEN (dpa-AFX) – Lower Saxony’s Environment and Energy Minister Christian Meyer (Greens) has confirmed the end of the nuclear power plant in Lingen from mid-April. Even with a view to next winter, nuclear power is no longer necessary for security of supply in Germany, Meyer said on Monday during a visit to the RWE power plant site in Lingen, Emsland. “One should now stick to the nuclear phase-out that was agreed,” said Lingen on the discussion about a further extension of the lifespan for the reactors. The actual end for nuclear power in Germany on December 31, 2022 was postponed to April 15 in the fall by a word of authority from Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD).
In Lingen, the energy company RWE presented a mega battery system for storing renewable energy. Together with a location in Werne in North Rhine-Westphalia, RWE has a storage capacity of 117 megawatts with the system, which can deliver the stored energy for an hour within a second, said Roger Miesen, CEO of RWE Generation. With its two locations, the battery storage system forms a joint system with RWE hydroelectric power plants along the Moselle. The stored electricity will serve to stabilize the grid. The investment volume for the mega battery is around 50 million euros. According to the company, the mega battery has already fed electricity into the grid and is in trial operation.
Meyer acknowledged RWE’s investment in renewable energies, saying they were an important step in the energy transition. The state of Lower Saxony is promoting the construction of two electrolysers for hydrogen production in Lingen. On the one hand, according to the Ministry of Energy, there is a so-called PEM electrolysis with an output of 4 megawatts and an alkaline electrolysis with an output of 10 megawatts. The total costs of the project amount to more than 28 million euros, of which Lower Saxony will take on 8 million euros. This is the starting point for the planned expansion of a hydrogen electrolysis with an output of 300 megawatts, which is to take place at the gas power plant in Lingen by 2026.
“Without the ambitious entry into the hydrogen economy, we will not be able to achieve the sustainable conversion of our energy supply,” said Meyer. Lingen should be one of the most important locations for this. In the future, hydrogen is to be produced here on a large scale, which is intended for industry.
According to Meyer, the pipeline network for hydrogen is also to be expanded. A 130-kilometer hydrogen transport infrastructure is planned between Lingen and Gelsenkirchen. The funding volume applied for alone for the sub-project of a hydrogen production plant of RWE entitled “Get H2 Nukleus” is a good 500 million euros, the state share should be around 150 million euros.
With the construction of further electrolysers at the refinery in Lingen and the storage facility for hydrogen from organic carrier oil, further hydrogen will be produced in Lingen. “This will make Emsland one of the main sources of green hydrogen in Europe in the future,” said Meyer./eks/DP/jha
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