Green electricity for a CO2-neutral chemical industry and green hydrogen

The RWE-BASF lighthouse project “Offshore-to-X” aims to accelerate the transition to a CO₂-free chemical industry – by electrifying production processes that were previously based on fossil fuels and through CO₂-free hydrogen. The idea: BASF replaces CO₂-intensive processes for basic chemical production at its Ludwigshafen site with innovative CO₂-free technologies. The green electricity needed for this will be produced by RWE and BASF in an offshore wind park, to be built in the German North Sea in addition to the new installations foreseen by existing policy. With the remaining electricity, RWE will produce green hydrogen using electrolysis.

A brief overview of the key components of the plan:

Offshore wind park in the North Sea
Capacity: 2 GW in addition to the previously planned capacity expansion, to produce around 7,500 GWh of green electricity per year

Tender for the wind park should be in addition to the planned 20 GW by 2030 in existing legislation. The green electricity would therefore meet the criterion of additionality. Tender should be aimed at the transformation of the chemical industry.

The potential offshore sites for this project are ones that are currently only planned for the period after 2030 according to Germany’s Site Development Plan and Network Development Plan.

Network connection to mainland in Lower Saxony: Via the grid of the transmission system operator (TSO), electricity can be transported to Ludwigshafen and to the future site of the electrolysis project for green hydrogen; various options due to existing RWE sites in northwestern Germany.

RWE will develop, build and operate the wind park.

BASF will own a stake.
Innovative downstream technologies for CO2 reduction
Around 80% of the approximately 7,500 GWh produced by the wind park will be supplied as green electricity for innovative technologies for CO2 reduction and thus power the transformation of BASF sites in Germany, especially the Verbund site in Ludwigshafen. Examples of such innovative technologies are:

eCracker: Electrically heated steam cracker furnaces to produce petrochemicals at high temperatures (~850° C); these temperatures will be reached in the eCracker using electricity instead of natural gas.

Methane pyrolysis: Methane pyrolysis uses green electricity to split methane into hydrogen and carbon. The hydrogen can be used, for example, to produce green ammonia. Another output of this process is high-purity solid carbon, a valuable raw material that can replace carbon in various industrial sectors, such as the steel industry.

Power-to-heat: Electrode boilers and high-temperature heat pumps will make it possible to use green electricity instead of fossil fuels to produce process heat.
Production of green hydrogen via electrolysis
Around 20% of the electricity produced by the wind park would be used to produce green hydrogen in northwestern Germany.

Around 300 MW of capacity to produce approximately 30 million kilograms of green hydrogen per year for use in other industrial segments.

Location is very attractive due to the existence of some hydrogen infrastructure and high demand for hydrogen in the region. Options at existing power plant sites.