Dutch 20 MW green hydrogen electrolyzer project secures EU funding

London — Gasunie and Nouryon have secured an Eur11 million EU grant for a 20 MW green hydrogen electrolyzer project at Delfzijl, the Dutch gas grid operator and the chemicals maker said Thursday.

The project is a front-runner among several hydrogen initiatives aimed at cutting carbon emissions and would be the biggest electrolyzer to date in Europe.

"We are ready to move to the next phase of implementing Europe's first large-scale hydrogen plant," Nouryon's head of industrial chemicals, Knut Schwalenberg, said.

The final investment decision for the plant is planned for 2020.

The project is also supported by an additional Eur5 million in subsidies from Waddenfonds, a fund that invests in projects in the northern Netherlands.

"Scaling up is the keyword here. From our 1 MW electrolysis project HyStock, via this 20 MW electrolysis installation in Delfzijl towards gigawatts in 2030," Gasunie board member Ulco Vermeulen said.

The Delfzijl project's capacity may be increased to 60 MW with the companies exploring plans for a green jet fuel project with another group of partners.

Earlier this week, Gasunie also advanced plans for a 100 MW electrolyzer project at Diele in Germany together with Tennet and Thyssengas.

A joint energy transition study by Gasunie and Tennet on the Netherlands' and Germany's 2050 decarbonization plans estimated a need for up to 110 GW of electrolyzer capacity.

The other four partners involved in the Delzijl project near Groningen are: McPhy, which will provide the alkaline electrolysis unit to convert renewable electricity into 3,000 mt/year of hydrogen; BioMCN, which will combine the hydrogen with CO2 from other processes to produce renewable methanol, reducing CO2 emissions by up to 27,000 mt/year; DeNora, a producer of electrodes, a key component of the electrolysis technology; and sustainable energy consultant Hinicio.

Europe's biggest green hydrogen electrolyzer plant started in November in Austria with steelmaker voestalpine and utility Verbund using a 6 MW Siemens Silyzer at the Linz steel works.

The H2FUTURE project secured Eur18 million in EU funding.

A 10 MW project is set to start this summer at Shell's Rheinland refinery in Germany with UK-based ITM Power providing the PEM electrolyzer.

Investment, including integration into the refinery, is around Eur20 million, of which Eur10 million was secured through EU funding.

SELECTED HYDROGEN ELECTROLYZER PROJECTS IN NW EUROPE

Source: S&P Global Platts, developers