WAL reserves capacity on GASCADE’s H2 core network

Milestone for Lubmin: Capacity agreement secures access to the network for green hydrogen. “Flow – making hydrogen happen” programme provides investment certainty.

The project WAL – “Hydrogen from Lubmin” – and the transmission system operator GASCADE Gastransport GmbH (GASCADE) have signed a capacity reservation agreement for the hydrogen core network. With the signing of the contract, the IPCEI-funded project, which is being developed jointly by H2APEX and Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners (CIP), secures entry capacity for green hydrogen from the planned electrolyser at the Lubmin site.

“The conclusion of this capacity reservation agreement shows that our hydrogen infrastructure is meeting concrete demand,” says Carina Gewehr, SVP Regulation and Market at GASCADE. “With this reservation, projects such as WAL create investment and planning certainty. This is precisely what is crucial to accelerating the market ramp-up of hydrogen in Germany.”

WAL also sees the connection to the core hydrogen network as an important milestone: “With this capacity reservation, we are creating the necessary conditions to drive forward further project development and reliably prepare for the subsequent grid connection,” says Falko Budde, Managing Director of WAL at H2APEX. “The reservation enables us to link the planned hydrogen production with potential customers at an early stage and to position Lubmin as a central production site,” explains Adalbert Graff, Managing Director of WAL at CIP.

With the coordinated launch of capacity reservation in the core hydrogen network in mid-March 2026, the hydrogen network operators have sent a clear signal regarding the development of reliable hydrogen transport capacities. Connecting production sites such as Lubmin with industrial consumption centres is a key prerequisite for the successful ramp-up of the hydrogen market.

By the end of 2025, GASCADE completed the conversion of around 400 kilometres of transmission infrastructure for hydrogen transport. As part of the “Flow – making hydrogen happen” programme, a high-capacity north-south axis has already been established, enabling the transport of hydrogen from Lubmin to Bobbau in Saxony-Anhalt and connecting key industrial and consumption regions. This axis will be further expanded in the coming years.

About WAL

WAL – “Hydrogen from Lubmin” is a large-scale project for the production of green hydrogen, being developed jointly by H2APEX and Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners (CIP). Located in Lubmin on the Baltic Sea coast, the project combines direct access to offshore wind energy, a robust existing electricity infrastructure and a connection to the German core hydrogen network in a central location. With an electrolysis capacity of 100 MW in the first phase and a scaling potential of up to 600 MW, WAL is designed for industrial hydrogen production and conceived as a cornerstone of the German hydrogen economy.

The project’s shareholders have already invested a double‑digit million amount in the development and are pooling their respective expertise in the development of complex energy projects, the establishment of hydrogen infrastructure, and the long-term implementation and financing of sustainable projects.