HyTech Hafen Rostock

Green hydrogen can help reduce CO₂ emissions far beyond the electricity sector: For energy-intensive industries such as steel, chemicals or cement, it is considered an important building block of decarbonisation. In addition, hydrogen can serve as a climate-neutral fuel (directly in a fuel cell or as a base material for synthetic diesel or paraffin) or as a sustainable fuel for heat supply. Green hydrogen, which is produced with the help of renewable-generated electricity, can replace fossil fuels in other sectors and play a decisive role in achieving climate goals.

The project in Rostock, which focuses on the use of green hydrogen, is also concerned with the production of green hydrogen. By 2026, a 100-megawatt electrolysis plant is to be built on the site of the coal-fired power plant at the Rostock Overseas port as part of the “HyTech Hafen Rostock” project. This project is to be developed and built by the newly founded Rostock EnergyPort cooperation GmbH. The energy suppliers RWE Generation, EnBW Neue Energien GmbH, RheinEnergie AG and the port operator ROSTOCK PORT GmbH, are combining their expertise and each has a stake of just under 25 percent in the new company.

In the planned electrolysis plant, which is the centrepiece of the HyTech Hafen Rostock project, green hydrogen will be produced from water with the help of electricity from renewable energies. This climate-neutral/CO₂-free energy carrier can then be used in various sectors such as industry, transport and heating.

Each year, up to 6,500 tonnes of hydrogen will be produced in a climate-neutral way in the Rostock seaport, which can then be fed into a supra-regional distribution network (hydrogen grid) and made available to local consumers. Rostock, with its direct location on the Baltic Sea, offers great potential for this project. The green hydrogen can be used in a variety of maritime and industrial applications in the port city. The waste heat can potentially be used in the heat supply. This opens up numerous perspectives on the consumer side. The electricity needed for hydrogen production comes from wind farms in the Baltic Sea and from other renewable sources. Diverse areas of application and the proximity to offshore wind farms are a promising setup for a timely economic business case. As a port location, there are also long-term prospects with regard to imports infrastructure.