Oil and gas giant Shell announced on July 6 that it will build Europe’s largest hydrogen plant in the Netherlands. The plant, with 200 megawatt electrolyzer, is expected to start operation in 2025, generating 60,000 kilograms of renewable hydrogen each day.
Shell’s Executive Vice President Anna Mascolo believes that renewable hydrogen will be the core in the energy system in the future. Hydrogen can be used in various industries and can be generated in several ways. For example, the electrolysis method uses electric current to split water into oxygen and hydrogen.
The renewable power for the electrolyser will come from the offshore wind farm Hollandse Kust (noord), which is partly owned by Shell. Hydrogen that having renewable energy in its generation process can be recognized as “green” or “renewable” hydrogen, while hydrogen made without green energy is called “grey” hydrogen.
The renewable hydrogen will be sent to the Shell Energy and Chemicals Park Rotterdam through HyTransPort pipeline1 and replace some of grey hydrogen usage in the refinery. Shell’s goal is to partially decarbonize the production of energy products such as petrol and diesel. As heavy-duty trucks are entering market and refueling networks grow, renewable hydrogen supply can also help decarbonize commercial road transport.
In late June, Siemens Energy and Air Liquide announced a joint venture to the production of industrial scale renewable hydrogen electrolyzers in Europe. Production is expected to begin in the second half of 2023.
