PORTSIDE INVESTMENT
SHELL DOUBLES DOWN ON DUTCH HYDROGEN STRATEGIES
Source: Shell
Shell is moving ahead with plans to create a green hydrogen production and distribution supply chain centred around the Port of Rotterdam
As part of the energy giant’s energy transition plans, it is planning to establish a 200MW electrolyser plant at Maasvlaakte. The plant is expected to be the world’s largest electrolyser plant when it begins supplying green hydrogen produced from renewable electricity from offshore wind energy to Shell’s Pernis refinery at Botlek. The scale of the investment and its ambition is not in doubt: the investment in the 200MW plant is estimated at close to EUR1 billion, although much of that investment will go into infrastructure surrounding the plant. Shell will take the final decision for the investment later this year. If approved, the electrolyser is expected to become operational in 2024. The investment is likely to include the creation of hydrogen pipeline HyTransPort and installation of electrolysers at the ‘conversion park’ at Maasvlakte. The first phase of 32-kilometres-long underground pipeline HyTransPort will end at Pernis. It is to be part of the pipeline corridor the port of Rotterdam plans to construct for renewables. The pipeline will eventually connect the national hydrogen backbone and hydrogen storage facilities of HyNetwork Services as well as the international hydrogen network, which is envisaged in a subsequent phase 2. A spokesman for Shell, Marc Potma, confirmed that Shell had a positive outlook on the role that hydrogen will play in the energy transition. The investment is aligned with Shell’s focus on investing in electrification and the production of other molecular energy sources throughout the supply chain that Shell aims to control. The scheme brings together a number of interested stakeholders, and there are no fewer than five separate
24 | JULY/AUGUST 2022
8 The greenfield 200MW Shell Holland Hydrogen 1 plant will have the largest capacity in Europe when production starts in 2024
discussions with potential industrial consumers and/or producers of hydrogen. Project timescale Much of the preliminary work on the project has already been awarded. Shell has already selected thyssenkrupp to build the electrolyser plant, according to the design of architect company Kraaijvanger. In November 2021, Shell selected the Australian engineering enterprise, Worley, as the project lead on the technical integration of the electrolyser project. The offshore wind farm from which the project will draw electricity, the 759MW Hollandse Kust Noord (HKN) wind farm, will become operational in 2023. The project had initially envisaged bringing the electrolyser plant into operation at the same time, but the target is now to have the plant in good working condition in 2024. A pilot project While the creation of the project will create significant volumes of green hydrogen, the production economics of green hydrogen remain challenging. Dutch energy expert Ed van Dort estimates that it will require 58kWh of electricity to process a kilo of hydrogen. A Canadian colleague, Paul Martin, a co-founder of the Hydrogen Science Coalition echoed van Dort’s concerns about the efficiency of the electrolysers. “Green hydrogen's chief economic problem as an energy storage medium is the cost of electrolysers and storage equipment- and distribution cost isn't going to be as low as some expect either. Multiplying the low capacity factor of a
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