Uniper to Invest €5 Billion by 2030, Half in Flexible Gas and Hydrogen-Ready Plants

Uniper has reaffirmed plans to invest approximately €5 billion between 2025 and 2030 in flexible power generation, renewable energy and its gas procurement portfolio, with roughly half the capital directed to Germany. The German energy company aims to operate 15 to 20 gigawatts of power generation capacity by 2030, with at least half expected to come from renewable, low-carbon or decarbonisable sources. More than half of the total investment programme is earmarked for the Flexible Generation segment, including two hydrogen-ready gas power plant projects targeting a combined 1.7 gigawatts that Uniper plans to bid into upcoming German capacity tenders.

 

The Hydrogen-Ready Bet on Gas Infrastructure

 

The centrepiece of Uniper's flexible generation strategy is building gas-fired power plants designed to eventually run on hydrogen rather than natural gas, alongside projects incorporating carbon capture and storage. The two projects planned for Germany's StromVKG tenders in September and December 2026, at the Gelsenkirchen-Scholven and Staudinger sites, are described as hydrogen-ready, meaning the plants would initially burn natural gas but are engineered to convert to hydrogen fuel as supply becomes available.

That approach represents a hedge against stranded asset risk rather than a straightforward renewable investment. Building new gas infrastructure today carries the risk that tightening climate regulation or shifting energy economics could render conventional gas plants obsolete before their operational lifespan ends; designing them to be convertible to hydrogen or compatible with carbon capture is intended to preserve their long-term value under a wider range of future regulatory and market scenarios, even though the near-term reality is that these plants will run on natural gas for the foreseeable future. Chief executive Michael Lewis framed the sharpened investment focus as targeting the point where supply security, competitiveness and decarbonisation converge, language that reflects the balancing act between meeting Germany's immediate need for dispatchable power capacity and building toward a lower-carbon long-term system.

Beyond Germany, Uniper is pursuing similar conversion and decarbonisation projects internationally, including the Connah's Quay carbon capture project in the UK and the Karlshamn conversion in Sweden, together targeting decarbonisation of 1.7 gigawatts of capacity by 2030.

 

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Renewables and Hydropower Alongside Continued Gas Expansion

 

Roughly a third of the €5 billion programme is directed to the Green Generation segment, funding renewable energy expansion and hydropower modernisation, with Uniper targeting investment decisions on an average of up to 500 megawatts of solar and wind projects annually. Active projects include the 160 megawatt Happurg pumped-storage hydropower plant and a 54 megawatt hydropower expansion along Sweden's Ume River, both representing genuine additions to low-carbon generation capacity.

Set against that renewable investment, Uniper's Greener Commodities segment maintains a target of expanding its gas trading portfolio to 250 to 300 terawatt-hours, built on long-term supply contracts including agreements with Woodside in Australia, Tourmaline in Canada and ConocoPhillips in the United States. That expansion is aimed at securing supply for the roughly 1,000 municipal utilities and industrial customers Uniper serves in Germany, framed by the company as an energy security necessity given a more volatile geopolitical trading environment. Alongside conventional gas, Uniper is also expanding into renewable and low-carbon gases and hydrogen, demonstrated through its Bad Lauchstädt Energy Park, which the company describes as covering the full hydrogen value chain from production through to end use.

 

A New Revenue Stream From Data Centre Sites

 

Uniper is also positioning its existing power plant sites as locations for data centre development, aiming to generate revenue through site sales or leasing, co-investment, and structured power purchase agreements or direct supply from its own generation. The company has identified more than ten company-owned sites it considers suitable, with three projects already at an advanced development stage and a first UK project already completed.

That strategy leverages an asset Uniper already possesses, grid-connected land with established power infrastructure, into a new earnings stream tied to one of the fastest-growing sources of electricity demand globally. Lewis described the combination of sites, grid connectivity and energy market expertise as positioning the company to support data centre growth while requiring comparatively limited additional capital, a structure intended to increase the share of the company's earnings backed by long-term contracts rather than more volatile trading activity.

 

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Uniper's investment programme is underpinned by a balance sheet the company describes as strong, including approximately €12 billion in equity and a net cash position of around €2.8 billion at the end of the prior year, alongside investment-grade credit ratings from S&P, Scope and Fitch. Those ratings agencies have specifically cited the company's liquidity position, improved cash flow visibility and shift toward more predictable earnings sources as supporting factors. Whether Uniper's hydrogen-ready gas plants successfully convert to lower-carbon fuel sources on the timeline implied, and whether the expanding gas portfolio proves compatible with the company's stated decarbonisation ambitions rather than working against them, will determine how much this investment programme genuinely accelerates Europe's energy transition versus extending the operational life of gas infrastructure under a transition label.

 

Source: Uniper