LINGEN (dpa-AFX) - Lower Saxony's Environment and Energy Minister Christian Meyer (Greens) has confirmed the shutdown of the nuclear power plant in Lingen from mid-April. Even with a view to next winter, nuclear power is no longer necessary for security of supply in Germany, Meyer said Monday during a visit to RWE's power plant site in Lingen, Emsland. "We should now stick to the nuclear phase-out that has been agreed upon," Lingen said of the discussion on further extending the operating times for reactors. The actual end of nuclear power in Germany on Dec. 31, 2022, had been postponed to April 15 in the fall by a word of power from German Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD).

In Lingen, energy company RWE unveiled a mega-battery system for storing renewable energy. Together with a site in Werne, North Rhine-Westphalia, RWE said the system has a storage capacity of 117 megawatts and can deliver stored energy for an hour within one second, said Roger Miesen, CEO of RWE Generation. With its two sites, the battery storage system forms a joint system with RWE hydroelectric plants along the Moselle River. The stored electricity will be used to stabilize the grid. The investment volume for the megabattery is around 50 million euros. According to the company, the megabattery has already fed electricity into the grid and is in trial operation.

Meyer praised RWE's investment in renewable energies, saying they were an important step in the energy transition. The state of Lower Saxony is funding the construction of two electrolysers for hydrogen production in Lingen. According to the Energy Ministry, the first is a so-called PEM electrolysis with a capacity of 4 megawatts and an alkaline electrolysis with a capacity of 10 megawatts. The total cost of the project is more than 28 million euros, of which Lower Saxony is covering 8 million euros. This, he said, is the starting point for the subsequently intended expansion of a hydrogen electrolysis plant with a capacity of 300 megawatts, which is to take place at the site of the gas-fired power plant in Lingen by 2026.

"Without an ambitious entry into the hydrogen economy, we will not manage the sustainable transformation of our energy supply," Meyer said. Lingen is to be one of the most important locations for this, he said. Here, he said, hydrogen is to be produced on a large scale in the future, destined for industry.

The pipeline network for hydrogen is also to be expanded, according to Meyer. A 130-kilometer hydrogen transport infrastructure is planned between Lingen and Gelsenkirchen. The requested funding volume for the sub-project of an RWE hydrogen production plant alone, entitled "Get H2 Nukleus," amounts to a good 500 million euros; the state's share is to be around 150 million euros, he said.

With the construction of additional electrolysers at the refinery in Lingen and the storage facility for hydrogen from organic carrier oil, further hydrogen will be produced in Lingen, he said. "This will make Emsland one of the major sources of green hydrogen in Europe in the future," Meyer said./eks/DP/jha