The northern Netherlands can establish a hydrogen infrastructure blueprint for the rest of Europe with a pipeline of more than 50 hydrogen projects worth over €9bn ($10.7bn), according to a group of businesses and local government agencies. But the stakeholders say they need the Dutch government to help fulfil their plan.

The area, which includes an industrial cluster around Eemshaven port near the city of Groningen in the eponymous province, is already home to some of the world’s most ambitious hydrogen projects. One of them is a plan by Shell, gas network operator Gasunie and port operator Groningen Seaports to build Europe’s biggest green hydrogen factory, with a capacity of up to 10GW by 2040.

“Given the access to critical assets, the integrated value-chain approach and the committed project pipeline, the northern Netherlands is uniquely positioned to accelerate the Dutch and European hydrogen ecosystem,” says the group of local government and businesses leaders in an investment report presented to ­parliament.

Energy companies that are planning hydrogen projects in the area and are part of the group include Norway’s Equinor, Swedish utility Vattenfall and German utility RWE.

The group claims the area can produce around 100PJ/yr of hydrogen by 2030, equivalent to a quarter of the projected hydrogen demand in northwest Europe. As well as hydrogen factories powered by huge offshore wind parks, it will also have a local industrial offtake market and storage facilities as well as infrastructure to transport hydrogen to other demand centres in northwest Europe. The setup in the northern Netherlands can act as “a blueprint for the rest of Europe”, where other industrial areas are looking to develop hydrogen clusters, the group says.

“The investments in the north of the country and the experience gained are the prelude to a national rollout specific to the other regions, and will ensure that the Netherlands plays a pivotal role in Europe,” says Ulco Vermeulen, director of business development at Gasunie.

However, the region needs the Dutch government’s help. First and foremost, the green hydrogen market is dependent on substantial expansion of Dutch offshore wind capacity to power electrolysers for the production of green hydrogen.

“Before [our plans] can be developed further, in 2021 the Dutch government will need to approve additional capacity for offshore wind energy and provide a regulatory framework and financial support,” says New Energy Coalition, a Dutch network of researchers focused on the energy transition, which also supports the northern Netherlands’ hydrogen ­ambition.

The Dutch government has ambitious offshore wind targets, eyeing 60GW of capacity by 2050 in its boldest scenario. But so far only marginally more than 4GW of capacity has been awarded through tenders or is in operation. The next tender is planned for the third quarter of next year.

“We are investigating an update of our approach to the tenders for offshore windfarms and will start this process by consulting stakeholders. It is too early to say if and when this will be the case,” says a Dutch government spokesman. The northern Netherlands stakeholders would like to see 4-6GW of offshore wind capacity off the region’s coast dedicated to hydrogen production by 2030.

The government is supportive of the development of a hydrogen market, with its own strategy targeting installed electrolysis capacity of 500MW by 2025 and 3-4GW by 2030. It is also considering the creation of a hydrogen exchange to help develop globally traded hydrogen-based financial instruments.

“New regulations and financing are needed to ease the way for the developments and to accelerate the construction of offshore wind farms,” says Gasunie’s Vermeulen.

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Author: Karolin Schaps