Pinsent Masons assists AWG in realizing their Power2Gas project to produce hydrogen

In a group-wide Power2Gas project, the three municipal subsidiaries WSW Energie & Wasser AG, WSW mobil GmbH and AWG are going to make local public transport in Wuppertal even "greener". As of next year, WSW mobil, as a local transport company, plans to use modern fuel cell buses in its transport network in Wuppertal. The procurement process for fuel cell buses has already started with a Europe-wide tender. 

AWG will play an important role in the operation of the fuel cell buses in Wuppertal. 

AWG is the municipal waste disposal company in the region of Wuppertal and owns the Wuppertal waste-to-energy plant, one of the largest waste-to-energy plants in North Rhine-Westphalia. As part of an innovative Power2Gas(P2G) project, a production plant (electrolyser) is to be built on the site of the waste-to-energy plant, in which hydrogen will be produced as fuel for the new fuel cell buses by means of electrolysis. The electricity required for the implementation of the P2G project will come from waste incineration at the waste-to-energy plant and be certified as green electricity. The energy control of the plant itself will be the responsibility of the energy-experts of WSW.

The idea for implementing this project dates back to 2014, when the "H2W - Hydrogen for Wuppertal" programme was launched. The main objective of this program is to find a new, more environmentally-friendly drive technology for the bus fleet in Wuppertal that does not incur higher costs than the previous diesel bus fleet.

All contracts required for project implementation have now been signed. The first stage of construction, scheduled to last for approximately one year, is to commence in autumn with the erection of the production plant (electrolyser).

AWG was legally and conceptually supported by Pinsent Masons in this P2G project. Under the lead of Dr. Sönke Gödeke and Dr. Thorsten Volz, the legal team of the firm's Düsseldorf office, which specializes in the energy industry, advised on all energy, corporate, contract law and regulatory issues.

Consultants AWG:

Pinsent Masons

Dr. Sönke Gödeke, Dr. Thorsten Volz (both Partners, Energy, Corporate/Commercial, Düsseldorf, lead)

Dr. Valerian von Richthofen

Dr. Sebastian Jördening