German utility Uniper and the Port of Rotterdam are assessing the construction of a 100MW green hydrogen production plant at the utility’s Maasvlakte site in Rotterdam, the companies announced today.

The companies are targeting a 2025 startup date and want to ultimately expand the plant’s capacity to 500MW.

The plant is expected to be powered by electricity from offshore windfarms that have power-exporting cables connected to the Maasvlakte area. The heavily industrialised region is also home to many potential hydrogen customers, and plans are afoot to convert existing gas pipelines to transport hydrogen to customers in Germany and elsewhere.

“Our location at Maasvlakte is the perfect place for large-scale production of green hydrogen. This is where everything comes together—large amounts of renewable energy, the required infrastructure and industrial customers,” says Uniper chief executive Andreas Schierenbeck.

“Our location at Maasvlakte is the perfect place for large-scale production of green hydrogen” Schierenbeck

The project successfully prequalified for European funding under the EU IPCEI (Important Projects of Common European Interest) programme, and the companies say they expect to finalise a feasibility study this summer.

Uniper and the Port of Rotterdam are also considering importing, storing and exporting hydrogen at the site. The Port of Rotterdam aims to become a major international hub for hydrogen import and export and has already started assessing the possibility of importing green hydrogen from Iceland.

Next to Uniper, the Port of Rotterdam has teamed up with other players in the hydrogen market. The port is cooperating with Shell to build a 200MW hydrogen plant at Tweede Maasvlakte that will initially feed the oil major’s nearby Pernis refinery. It is expected to start operating in 2023 and to source electricity from Shell and Eneco’s under-construction Hollandse Kust (Noord) offshore windfarm.

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Author: Karolin Schaps