© EWE

EWE has begun construction of a 24-kilometre hydrogen pipeline between Emden and Leer that will connect the utility’s 320MW electrolyzer project to Germany’s national hydrogen core network, a system of dedicated pipelines designed to move hydrogen between production sites, storage facilities and industrial users.

Part of Germany’s wider infrastructure build-out

The project, named H2Coastlink 1, marks one of the first physical construction milestones for the core network in north-west Germany. It reflects a broader shift in the country’s hydrogen strategy from planning and permitting toward on-the-ground construction, as electrolyser projects increasingly require confirmed transport links before large-scale output can reach industrial customers.

Project timeline and technical scope

Construction started this month, with commissioning targeted for autumn 2027, the same period EWE’s Emden green hydrogen plant is due to come online. The plant has been under construction since December 2025. Once operational, the pipeline is expected to carry around 26,000 tonnes of hydrogen a year from the Emden electrolyser, though EWE NETZ, the EWE subsidiary building the line on behalf of project developer GTG Nord, states the pipeline’s overall transport capacity exceeds 70,000 tonnes annually, allowing for additional throughput from other sources connected to the wider network. H2Coastlink 1 is also designed to link with other core-network projects, including Gasunie Deutschland’s HyperLink and OGE’s planned Nordsee-Ruhr-Link IV.

Offtake agreement with Salzgitter

The pipeline underpins a supply agreement between EWE and steelmaker Salzgitter, under which the company will offtake 10,000 tonnes of green hydrogen annually from 2030 for its Flachstahl site, to be used in lower-carbon steel production. Dr Frank Reiners, an EWE AG board member, said the pipeline was a “crucial component” enabling green hydrogen to reach industrial buyers reliably at scale.

Regulatory approval and funding

The pipeline received planning approval from Lower Saxony’s mining, energy and geology office in a five-month process from submission to decision, which GTG Nord managing director Dr Tim Olbricht described as unusually fast for a project of this size. H2Coastlink 1 is funded by the German federal government and the State of Lower Saxony under the EU’s Important Projects of Common European Interest (IPCEI) framework, which received state-aid clearance from the European Commission in February 2024. Landrat Matthias Groote of the Leer district called the groundbreaking a “milestone,” noting local discussions are ongoing about possible branch connections for regional businesses along the route.

Wider context: Clean Hydrogen Coastline initiative

H2Coastlink 1 forms part of EWE’s broader Clean Hydrogen Coastline programme, which also includes converting an underground salt cavern at Huntorf into large-scale hydrogen storage, also targeted for 2027.

The project illustrates a pattern likely to recur across Germany’s hydrogen core network: electrolyser capacity and offtake contracts are being finalised well ahead of the transport infrastructure needed to connect them, making pipeline construction timelines a critical variable for whether green hydrogen supply commitments — such as the Salzgitter agreement — are met on schedule. The relatively fast permitting process may also be watched by other developers as a reference point for what is achievable under IPCEI-backed projects.