BASF’s latest Hy4Chem-EI project, created in partnership with Siemens Energy, is now able to advance the project further and can now install a 54-MW proton exchange membrane electrolyser into its facility.

BASF is a German chemicals group and its most recent project, which involves a 54-MW proton exchange membrane, has set out with the aim of producing an estimated 8,000 metric tons of hydrogen every year. The project plans to make this possible through the use of renewable energy and it also plans to decarbonise its chemical production processes with the raw materials which are produced as an output of the plant’s operations. Some of this material will also be given to the transport sector, specifically in the Rhine-Neckar Metropolitan Region.

Making all this possible and allowing BASF to move into the construction phase of this project, is the funding approval for a EUR-124.3-million state grant, which the project, based in Ludwigshafen, has received. This financing will be awarded to the company by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action. Furthermore, the federal state of Rhineland-Palatinate has agreed to provide a maximum of EUR 37.3 million of the total amount.

This new plant is expected to be commissioned in 2025 and will be one of the largest projects of its kind, within Germany, once it is operational.