Equinor Bets on Gas and Batteries in PJM as Uniper's Hydrogen Terminal Hunts for Buyers
Equinor's power segment lost $31 million in H1 2026 despite 43% revenue growth; Uniper's Wilhelmshaven terminal has found no committed customers four months after opening a call for interest.
Equinor brought its 100-megawatt, 200-MWh Citrus Flatts battery energy storage facility online in Harlingen, Texas on Thursday (2026-09-03), the latest addition to a US power portfolio that is growing faster than it is generating returns.5
The commissioning follows Equinor's August 17 (2026-08-17) announcement that it would acquire a majority stake in the Lackawanna Energy Center, a 1,483-MW combined-cycle gas turbine plant in Pennsylvania, from Global Infrastructure Partners. The plant sits in PJM, the largest wholesale electricity market in the United States, serving nearly 70 million consumers across 13 states. Equinor is also building four battery projects with a combined 80 MW and 160 MWh in PJM's Virginia footprint.5
Equinor's power segment generated $1.58 billion in H1 2026 revenue, up 43% year-on-year. Net generation reached 2.58 TWh, a 2% increase, with renewables at 1.89 TWh, up 19%. The segment still posted an adjusted operating loss of $31 million over the same period, improved from -$126 million in H1 2025 but still in the red.5
That US capital deployment sits in contrast to what Equinor and its European peers are asking governments to underwrite. On Wednesday (2026-06-24), a consortium including National Gas and the Humber Hydrogen Gateway project pushed Westminster to designate the Humber region as host for the first integrated hydrogen network under the UK government's £500 million hydrogen transport and storage business model. The pitch landed during the Labour leadership contest, an awkward moment for a decision requiring sustained ministerial attention.3
Northern Gas Networks separately developed two hydrogen pipelines for the broader East Coast Hydrogen project, including a 39-mile line across Teesside, with projections of more than 1,000 jobs. The regional lobbying is intensifying. A government decision has not followed.4
The demand side of the equation is where both the UK and German hydrogen programmes face their most direct test. Uniper opened a call for expressions of interest from potential buyers in May 2026 for its planned 2.6 million-tonne-per-year ammonia import terminal at Wilhelmshaven on Germany's North Sea coast. When operational, the facility would crack incoming ammonia into around 350,000 tonnes of hydrogen annually for Germany's 9,000-kilometre core hydrogen network. The site could also accommodate a 1-GW green hydrogen plant.2
Uniper has one supply commitment in hand: an offtake for up to 500,000 tonnes per year of green ammonia from AM Green's 1.3-GW project in India. But Montel reported that Uniper spokeswoman Julia Grebe confirmed the final investment decision is not expected until early 2030, with construction and commissioning running through to early 2034.1
Berlin's green hydrogen strategy targets imports meeting up to 70% of Germany's 2030 hydrogen demand. A terminal with a 2034 commissioning date contributes nothing to that target. The gap is in the public documents.2,1
Four months after Uniper's expressions-of-interest call, no committed buyer for its Wilhelmshaven hydrogen output has been named publicly. The infrastructure pipeline — Wilhelmshaven, the Humber, the East Coast Hydrogen pipelines — is advancing on the supply side. The offtake agreements that would justify the investment decisions are not keeping pace. If Uniper reaches its 2030 FID date without signed customers, the schedule stretches further or the project shrinks.2,43
Equinor's Lackawanna acquisition points to where its near-term earnings will come from: a large gas plant in a market where electricity demand is rising. The power segment direction from -$126 million in H1 2025 to -$31 million in H1 2026 suggests losses are narrowing, but renewables were 1.89 TWh of 2.58 TWh total H1 output, meaning gas and other sources still account for roughly a quarter of the mix.5
The specific numbers to track are Uniper's Wilhelmshaven customer announcements ahead of the 2030 FID, and whether Westminster names a preferred HTBM site before the Labour leadership transition settles. A 2030 FID without committed offtake in place would indicate the hydrogen demand assumptions built into both German and UK project timelines are running well ahead of what industrial buyers are willing to sign.1,3