Uniper Hydrogen has completed the first phase of capacity allocation for its planned hydrogen import terminal in Wilhelmshaven, northern Germany. The company said the capacity reserved by market participants is enough to keep developing the project.

Uniper had opened the process to market participants earlier in the year and has now signed expressions of interest with them. Completing this phase confirms commercial demand for the terminal and allows Uniper to move on to permitting, further development and commercialisation. The second phase has now begun, covering the issue of heads of terms and the drafting of a terminal use agreement with the participating shippers.

The terminal will receive hydrogen in the form of ammonia. The ammonia will be cracked back into hydrogen on site and fed into Germany’s hydrogen core network, and rail loading facilities will allow ammonia to be moved onwards by train. The modular design allows the terminal to start with a smaller import capacity and grow to a maximum of 2.6 million tonnes of ammonia a year, equal to around 350,000 tonnes of hydrogen. If demand justifies expansion, Uniper plans further rounds of capacity allocation that would not affect the rights of current participants.