Shell is building the largest hydrogen factory in Europe in Rotterdam. The Holland Hydrogen I is expected to be operational in 2025, the oil company announced on Wednesday.
The factory is being built on Maasvlakte 2 in the Port of Rotterdam and will produce 60,000 kilograms of renewable hydrogen per day.
The renewable power for the so-called electrolyser comes from Hollandse Kust (noord), the offshore wind farm that is partly owned by Shell.
“Holland Hydrogen I shows how new energy solutions can work together to meet society’s need for cleaner energy. It is also another example of Shell’s own efforts and commitment to be a net zero-emission company by 2050,” said Anna Mascolo, executive vice president of Emerging Energy Solutions at Shell.
Need more projects
The expectations regarding green hydrogen are sky-high. The gas is seen as the way to get rid of oil, coal and gas, among others, in heavy industry. But at the moment it is hardly produced. This requires a lot of green electricity, which is currently being used to replace ‘grey’ electricity.
The government wants future surpluses of green energy, for example from wind farms in the North Sea, to be used to make hydrogen. By 2030, there should be 3 to 4 gigawatts of hydrogen factories. Shell’s plant will be rated at 0.2 gigawatts, so many other projects need to be launched to meet that target.
Moreover, it seems that much more green hydrogen is needed to achieve the tightened Dutch and European climate targets. The question is whether the Netherlands will be able to produce all of this. The cabinet is looking at the import of green hydrogen, but production has yet to get underway across the border.