The German energy company RWE is allowed to build a factory for ‘green hydrogen’ in the Eemshaven. The province of Groningen issued an environmental permit for this on Wednesday. As far as we know, the intended green hydrogen factory of RWE is the largest that has been licensed in the Netherlands. Almost all power from an existing wind farm will be used in the factory.
In recent years, plans for a Dutch hydrogen industry have quickly become concrete. The current outgoing cabinet announced last year that it wants to promote the construction of dozens of large ‘electrolysers’ – which make hydrogen – until 2030.
‘Green’ hydrogen, made with water and a lot of electricity, is considered an important future replacement for fossil fuels, especially in industry and in the transport sector.
Green hydrogen is currently hardly produced, because it is very expensive. However, more and more subsidy programs are being set up for this, both nationally and in the EU. In recent years, many companies have announced plans to build electrolysers in the Netherlands. In particular, multinationals such as RWE, Nobian (the chemical division of Nouryon), Shell and BP want to invest in it, although none of these companies has made a decision so far.
Licenses provinces
In recent months, provinces have already issued the first permits for the construction of electrolysers. RWE’s planned factory is the largest of these, with a capacity of 50 megawatts (MW). RWE plans to supply hydrogen to BioMCN’s methanol plant and Evonik’s hydrogen peroxide plant, both in Delfzijl. “We see hydrogen as important for our energy company,” said a spokesperson for RWE, “for industry, and in the long run also for our gas-fired power stations.”
A building permit has yet to be issued for the factory, but according to the province of Groningen, the environmental permit that has now been granted is the most important.
Also read: Paying at the pump for a green hydrogen industry
The electricity required for RWE’s hydrogen factory comes from its own Westereems wind farm (54 wind turbines in the Eemshaven). The electricity production of that park, which would now be enough for almost 150,000 households, will then almost entirely benefit the electrolyser.
One other party has now obtained permits for the construction of large-scale electrolysers in the Netherlands. Energy company VoltH2 received permission last autumn to build two electrolysers of 25 MW each in Vlissingen and Terneuzen.
Director André Jurres of VoltH2 wants to supply the hydrogen in Zeeland mainly to the transport sector, he says. “Heavy trucks cannot drive electrically. And because of our location on the Ghent-Terneuzen canal, we could also supply hydrogen to inland shipping.”
VoltH2, a subsidiary of the American energy company Vision H2, wants to submit a subsidy application for the ‘scaling up instrument’ in the Netherlands next spring. That is a new subsidy pot of 252 million euros for electrolysers from the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Climate (EZK).
Risks well managed
Lawyer Carin Schipperus, director of Alex Advocaten in Wijchen, Gelderland, is also interested in the permits for the hydrogen factories. According to her, the risks of electrolysers, such as the risk of explosion and noise pollution, are well contained in the permits that she has seen so far. “Such rules are already being used for producers of other gases.”
The question is how the new factories will dispose of their hydrogen. At the moment there are hardly any pipelines for hydrogen. The Ministry of Economic Affairs wants to build a national hydrogen network in the coming decade. Several provinces are already working on regional networks.
In Zeeland, Gasunie and the port company North Sea Port concluded an agreement last autumn to develop such a hydrogen network in the Scheldt area. RWE is also in talks with Gasunie about hydrogen pipelines around Eemshaven, says the RWE spokesperson. Otherwise, the hydrogen produced will have to be transported by ship or truck.
Energy company RWE receives permit for green hydrogen factory Eemshaven
Source link Energy company RWE receives permit for green hydrogen factory Eemshaven
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