12 June 2026
Gas Plant Profile: Gersteinwerk, Germany
PROJECT: RWE plans an 800 MW hydrogen-ready CCGT at Gersteinwerk in Germany’s Ruhr region. The company says the plant could begin producing electricity by 2030, start with at least a 50% hydrogen blend, and switch fully to hydrogen later; however, both the investment decision and the eventual conversion remain conditional on hydrogen network access, regulation, and economics.
LOCATION: Werne, Germany
UTILITY: RWE
STATUS: Planning approval is underway, but no final investment decision has been made.
Map data: ©Google – 2023-2025
Gersteinwerk is already a major gas-fired site in North Rhine-Westphalia. Electricity has been generated there since 1917. Today, the remaining gas units at the site provide more than 1 GW of capacity, while the coal-fired part of block K was shut in March 2019. The existing Gersteinwerk units F, G and K1 were contracted into Germany’s capacity reserve until 30 September 2026 and were awarded new contracts until 30 September 2028.
RWE has been clearing former coal infrastructure at the site: the 280-metre chimney of the closed coal block was demolished on 12 October 2025, while RWE announced that the 64-metre DeNOx building would be brought down at the end of February 2026.
On 29 May 2024, RWE announced that it had commissioned an Italian-Spanish consortium to plan the new plant and that it was keeping “the chance of completion by 2030 open.” But the same press release also made clear that a final investment decision depends on securing a hydrogen grid connection and a “commercially viable operation.” In practice, that means the project is advanced in planning terms, but still not locked in.
The project has become a flashpoint in wider opposition to Germany’s expansion of new gas-fired capacity. At the end of May 2026, Campact, Fridays for Future, BUND and Greenpeace organised a demonstration under the slogan “Zukunft statt Gas – Energiewende verteidigen” (Future Instead of Gas – Defend the Energy Transition) near Gersteinwerk, while the Hammer Klimacamp took place in Hamm from 24 May to 2 June.
5000 people joined the demonstration on 30 May 2026, calling for an immediate change of course in energy policy, away from fossil gas and towards a consistent, socially just energy transition. 2000 of them have also formed a movable wind turbine against the backdrop of the Gersteinwerk gas power plant, thus setting a new world record.