News —
tesa to Source Green Hydrogen From EWE in Emden From 2028
tesa and EWE have signed a supply contract in Hamburg for 500 tonnes per year of green hydrogen produced by electrolysis using renewable energy. The agreement between EWE HYDROGEN and tesa Werk Hamburg was sealed by EWE CEO Stefan Dohler and tesa CEO Dr Kourosh Bahrami. From 2028, EWE will thus cover the planned annual hydrogen demand of the Hamburg plant, where the hydrogen is set to replace fossil fuels in steam generation. For EWE, it is the next industrial supply contract for green hydrogen, following its agreement with Salzgitter AG a few weeks ago.
Hydrogen From Emden for Hamburg
The hydrogen will be produced at EWE's 320-megawatt electrolysis plant in Emden, which is scheduled to start operation at the end of 2027. Electrolysis will be powered by electricity from renewable sources and, according to EWE, will meet the European requirements for renewable hydrogen (RFNBO). The hydrogen is then to be transported to Hamburg via the emerging hydrogen core network. In parallel, tesa is preparing to connect its plant to the Hamburg hydrogen industry network HH-WIN; the connection is due to be completed by the end of 2027.
"Green hydrogen complements electrification, heat storage and intelligent energy management where process heat cannot be fully electrified," says Dr Kourosh Bahrami, CEO of tesa SE. "The contract with EWE is therefore not only an important step towards our climate targets, but also for the long-term competitiveness of the site."
500 Tonnes Cover Planned Hydrogen Demand
The Hamburg plant is tesa's largest site in terms of energy use and emissions. Its planned transformation is to be based on efficiency improvements, electrification with heat storage, AI-supported control of energy flows and hydrogen from renewable energy. From January 2028, tesa intends to use around 500 tonnes of hydrogen per year for steam generation. This is expected to reduce the plant's emissions by around 6,000 tonnes of CO2 equivalent per year. Two H2-ready dual-fuel steam boilers create the technical prerequisites; the first has already been installed and connected.
"Following Salzgitter, tesa is another renowned industrial customer to opt for green hydrogen from EWE. This shows that supply and demand can come together, even though the market is still at a very early stage," says EWE CEO Stefan Dohler.
Funding on Both Sides
The production plant in Emden is part of the IPCEI project "Clean Hydrogen Coastline", under which electrolysis, storage and pipeline infrastructure is being built in north-western Germany. The federal government and the state of Lower Saxony are funding its development. The supply contract itself is a private-sector agreement. The transformation of the tesa plant is also publicly supported: through a climate protection contract (Klimaschutzvertrag) from the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs as well as local funding from IFB Hamburg. For EWE, this makes it the first hydrogen supply contract in which a climate protection contract on the customer side supports the use of green hydrogen.
However, according to EWE, the market ramp-up continues to depend on funding. For individual projects to grow into a viable market, the company believes further industrial partnerships and reliable framework conditions are needed – in particular competitive electricity prices, practicable production requirements and sufficient renewable electricity.
