Europe has lost the most ambitious project in its history. It was about one energy who is going to unite Norway con Germany. Fossil fuels have been around for decades. Today, however, the world needs to get rid of it to make way for more environmentally friendly forms of supply. Under these conditions, we have witnessed projects as ambitious as that of Denmark, which has obtained 5,000 tons of rare energy by combining wind, sun, water and air.
The latest reports on global warming and climate change are clear: we need change. To achieve this, a greater and accelerated energy transition is required than before. Several countries have already set environmental goals that predict a planet far from pollution, with 90% or more of the world’s energy generated by renewable energy.
Although we are still far from the imposed target, governments and energy companies are committed to being part of the change. In this context Europe It is one of the continents that puts the most emphasis on the arrival of a new reality. However, his project energy The most ambitious has not seen the light of the sun.
Europe is losing the project that would unite Norway and Germany
The Norwegian Equinor and the German RWE They decided to cancel one of the largest hydrogen infrastructure projects on the European continent. The reason is the lack of customers, the supply of green hydrogen and the lack of an optimal regulatory framework. According to the portal Bloombergthe state-owned company of Norway He broke off his involvement with the project for the reasons stated.
This initiative was presented in January 2023, when both companies dreamed of making this a reality Germany j Europe Central significant amounts of green and blue hydrogen. The aim was to replace coal-fired power stations in Germany with hydrogen-ready gas stations.j building low-carbon, renewable H production in Norway imposed by oil pipelines to Germany.
To achieve this they had to build a large ‘hydrogen pipeline’. The pipeline would initially transport low-carbon hydrogen, generated by capturing more than 95% of CO2 from natural gas, using existing and proven technologies.
Equinor wanted to invest in clean hydrogen projects Europe with an initial low-carbon hydrogen capacity of 2 GW Norway by 2030 and up to 10 GW by 2030 which will also include the gas pipeline to Germanythat was evaluated by the Norwegian state-owned company Gas Co. “As long as this pipeline is operational, Equinor will transport blue (low-carbon) hydrogen RWE will be purchased and used in gas-fired power plants prepared for hydrogen,” they warned. Currently this procedure cannot be performed.
What would have happened if the European energy project had been implemented?
This strategic alliance is designed to promote energy security and decarbonization through the development of large-scale projects. The aim of this movement is to promote the hydrogen economy, integrating the construction of various factories Germany. The agreement was made official in 2023 by the CEOs of both companies, Anders Opedal (Equinor) j Markus Krebber (RWE).
From the start, it was determined that the investments were dependent on the construction of a hydrogen gas pipeline between them Norway j Germany, in addition to the construction of a necessary infrastructure Germany. In addition, RWE j Equinor They planned to collaborate on green (renewable) hydrogen production projects, emphasizing the use of offshore wind energy as a form of generation.
The vision of both companies was to jointly explore the possibilities of offshore renewable H production, one approach would have been achieved Norway, Germany and neighboring countries. This bad news for Europe contributes to the fact that there may be no more electric cars.