Shell is going to build ‘largest green hydrogen plant in the EU’ in the port of Rotterdam
Shell is definitively going to build a green hydrogen plant in the port of Rotterdam. The factory will be called Holland Hydrogen I and will have a 200 MW electrolyser, good for a maximum of 60,000 kilograms of hydrogen per day. This hydrogen is produced with electricity from an offshore wind farm.
The company has been talking about a hydrogen factory in Rotterdam for some time, but says now to have made a final investment decision. The factory must be located on Maasvlakte 2 in the port of Rotterdam and be operational in 2025. Power comes from the Hollandse Kust (noord) offshore wind farm, which is partly owned by Shell.
The green hydrogen is produced with the HyTransPort hydrogen pipeline brought to the Shell Energy and Chemicals Park Rotterdam. Here is a refinery where petrol, diesel and kerosene are produced. Hydrogen is used in the production of these fuels. At the moment that is gray hydrogen, made with natural gas. By using green hydrogen, Shell says that the production of these fuels will soon become ‘partially carbon-free’.
In addition to the production of fuels, Shell is considering using the plant for the production of hydrogen for trucks. “As more hydrogen trucks enter the market and the network of hydrogen refueling points for heavy transport grows, green hydrogen delivery can also be tailored to help decarbonise road transport.”
Shell has a 20MW hydrogen plant in China and a 10MW hydrogen plant in Germany at the time of writing. In return for the NOS says Shell wanting to scale up further with a factory in Eemshaven in Groningen, which should again become twenty times the size of Holland Hydrogen I. The NOS also notes that the maximum capacity of the Rotterdam hydrogen factory is ten percent of what the Rotterdam refinery now needs in terms of hydrogen has. Although Shell is the first company to take the plunge for a hydrogen plant in Rotterdam, BP, Uniper and Air Liquide are also considering building a hydrogen plant here.