Hy24 to acquire Uniper's 20% stake in OPAL hydrogen transmission corridor
- Hy24 will acquire Uniper’s 20% stake by buying 100% of Lubmin‑Brandov Assets GmbH & Co. KG through its Clean Hydrogen Infrastructure Fund.
- OPAL is a ~470 km pipeline from Lubmin to Brandov; its northern section was converted for hydrogen in mid‑December 2025 and full conversion is expected by end‑2030.
- The remaining 80% of OPAL is owned by GASCADE Gastransport GmbH.
- Uniper’s divestment is a remedy under EU state aid rules (linked to a stabilisation package approved 20 December 2022); the transaction requires regulatory approvals and customary closing conditions.
Transaction
Hy24 has signed an agreement to acquire Uniper’s 20% stake in OPAL by purchasing 100% of the shares in Lubmin‑Brandov Assets GmbH & Co. KG via its Clean Hydrogen Infrastructure Fund. The remaining 80% stake in OPAL is held by GASCADE Gastransport GmbH. Completion is subject to required regulatory approvals and customary closing conditions.
OPAL corridor and conversion schedule
OPAL (Ostsee‑Pipeline‑Anbindungsleitung) is a regulated transmission corridor of approximately 470 km running from Lubmin in north‑eastern Germany to Brandov on the German–Czech border. Originally built for natural gas, its northern section was converted for hydrogen transport in mid‑December 2025 and the southern section is expected to be converted by the end of 2030.
Policy and regulatory context
The divestment forms part of structural remedies Uniper must implement under EU state aid rules following approval of a stabilisation package on 20 December 2022. Germany’s Hydrogen Acceleration Act (February 2026) and plans for a roughly 9,000 km Hydrogen Core Network aim to underpin large‑scale hydrogen flows; EU measures such as REPowerEU and CBAM are cited as supporting long‑term demand for renewable and low‑carbon hydrogen in hard‑to‑abate sectors.
Source: Hy24