A €4.7-MM funding commitment by the State of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) takes RWE’s proposed project a step closer to reality: In the Rhenish town of Bedburg, RWE plans to construct an electrolyzer plant with a capacity of about 5 megawatts (MW) to produce green H₂.

Silke Krebs, State Secretary at the Ministry for Economic Affairs, Industry, Climate Action and Energy of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia, has now conveyed the funding commitment for construction of the electrolyzer plant to Sopna Sury, COO H₂ at RWE. Sury estimated the total investment volume for the plant at about €25 MM.

Sopna Sury, COO H₂ RWE Generation SAID, “Green H₂ from RWE can assist local companies in converting their processes from fossil fuels to locally generated green H₂ in order to achieve their climate goals. The funding commitment by the State of NRW is an important first step towards implementing the entire project in Bedburg which, in addition to the electrolyzer plant, will also include a filling station to enable the green H₂ to be distributed by road in the absence of network structures.”

Silke Krebs, State Secretary at the Ministry for Economic Affairs, Industry, Climate Action and Energy of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia said, "The ramp-up of the H₂ economy is of immense importance for the energy and industrial state of North Rhine-Westphalia and the Rhenish Revier in particular. Projects like H₂ Bedburg can make an important contribution to kick-starting the energy transformation of North Rhine-Westphalia into Europe's first climate-neutral industrial region, guaranteeing energy supply security and enabling the sustainable development of the region. Investing in H₂ secures the economic future and jobs in the region! I am therefore very pleased that with our funding we can now give the go-ahead for the installation of the electrolyzer plant."

Sascha Solbach, Mayor of Bedburg said, "With this funding commitment, we are opening a new chapter in the development of our energy DNA here in Bedburg. By using locally generated renewable energy from our wind farms in the town area for a medium that can be stored, we are offering companies from the town and the region the chance to make their operations and production C0₂-neutral and thus future-proof. The same applies to mobility and transport. These are impulses for the entire Rhenish mining area - made in Bedburg!"

The electrolyzer plant will be built in the Mühlenerft Industrial Park, a site approved by Bedburg’s authorities for industrial development. The town authorities are prepared to make the required area available for the project.

A key precondition for implementing the H₂ project is the conclusion of long-term, economically viable purchase agreements with customers in the surrounding region. Potential areas of application for the green H₂ are logistics firms close to the Mühlenerft Industrial Park and vehicles from the local public transport network, which are to be converted to run on green H₂.

For an initial period, Bedburg is not expected to be connected to the core H₂ network being planned by the German government. That means green H₂ from the planned electrolyzer can be distributed only by means of tankers. RWE is therefore also preparing to build a tanker filling station and a H₂ fuel station in Bedburg. This part of the project will require successful participation in German government tenders for the expansion of H₂ fuel stations.

Assuming the filling station is built and approval is received swiftly, the entire plant could begin supplying H₂ to the region in 2026.