The initial project within the strategy "Energy Port Rostock" is the "HyTechHafen Rostock". Our institute coordinates the project and currently provides one of two managing directors within the company rEPco GmbH, which was founded in June 2022. The plan is to commission a 100 megawatt electrolyzer and then scale up hydrogen production to more than 1 gigawatt within a decade. To this end, an infrastructure is being built in the port, including the coal-fired power plant currently undergoing transformation. With the pipeline connection to the hydrogen backbone network, the creation of an intermediate H2 storage facility and the construction of a hydrogen refueling station for the transportation sector, the foundations for a sustainable H2 value chain with potential for expansion have been established. The exclusive use of renewable energies and thus the production of green hydrogen is guaranteed from the beginning. The electricity required for electrolysis is provided by existing wind farms or those under construction. The port and its immediate surroundings offer themselves as a promising location, as it can be integrated into the import infrastructure in the long term. Rostock will therefore become part of the European hydrogen economy on the one hand and the starting point of the East German hydrogen pipeline network as part of the European Hydrogen Backbone on the other.
At the end of March 2023, the first RFI round was completed by the EU Commission, the so-called RFI (request for information) in less than four weeks. At this point, we would like to thank the entire IWEN team for the very intensive working weeks behind them.
On April 1, Dornier Power and Heat GmbH started its work as general planner for the Rostock HyTechHafen project. The kickoff by representatives of the shareholders, Dornier, Tractebel and the two managing directors M. Wurzel and Dr. R. Tschullik was a successful start. Against the backdrop of the coal-fired power plant, all colleagues were able to get an idea of the location and continue planning the future as a production site for green hydrogen.