Norwegian state-owned energy company Equinor and global industrial gases firm Linde have agreed to cooperate on the development of a large-scale blue hydrogen project at the port of Eemshaven in northern Holland.

The project, called H2M Eemshaven, aims to start production in 2028 with a planned capacity of 210,000t/yr. It will be connected to onshore hydrogen pipelines planned in both the Netherlands and Germany, with demand expected from industrial sectors including steel, chemicals and power generation.

The project will take Norwegian gas for reforming to low-carbon hydrogen. More than 95% of the CO₂ will be captured and stored permanently under the seabed offshore Norway.

“Together we can produce low carbon hydrogen to ensure reliable and clean energy to Europe” Tveit, Equinor

Under a development agreement signed by the two firms, Equinor will secure access to carbon transport and storage capacity and offer low-carbon hydrogen to the market. Linde will build, co-own and operate the project’s hydrogen production and carbon capture and transfer facility.

“Together we can produce low-carbon hydrogen to ensure reliable and clean energy to Europe. We look forward to developing this important project together with Linde,” said Grete Tveit, senior vice-president for low-carbon solutions at Equinor.

The H2M Eemshaven project is part of Equinor’s strategy to develop hydrogen production in 3–5 five major industrial clusters in Europe by 2035, added Tveit.

In a separate project at Eemshaven, Equinor is part of an international consortium studying the feasibility of gigawatt-scale production, storage and transmission of green hydrogen from 2030 under a project called NortH2.

That project’s goal is to develop 2–4GW of green hydrogen production capacity by around 2030, potentially rising to more than 10GW by 2040. The electrolysis, to be powered by offshore wind, will initially take place on land at Eemshaven, with offshore electrolysis planned for a later phase of the project.

The other consortium members are German utility RWE, Dutch utility Eneco and oil major Shell.

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Author: Stuart Penson