Orsted proposes 1 GW Dutch, Belgian renewable hydrogen project

London — Orsted plans to develop a 1 GW electrolyzer supplying industrial demand for renewable hydrogen in the Netherlands and Belgium by 2030, the Danish energy company said March 31.

If realized, the SeaH2Land project could convert about 20% of the region's current hydrogen consumption of 580,000 tonnes/yr to renewable hydrogen by the end of the decade.

"The major industrial companies in the region ArcelorMittal, Yara, Dow Benelux, and Zeeland Refinery, support the development of the required regional infrastructure to enable sustainably-produced steel, ammonia, ethylene, and fuels in the future, helping the Netherlands and Belgium to accelerate their carbon reductions towards 2030 and beyond," Orsted said.

The North Sea Port cluster is one of the largest production and demand centers of fossil hydrogen in Europe today.

Driven by decarbonisation efforts, the cluster's demand for hydrogen could grow to about one million tonnes/yr by 2050, equivalent to roughly 10 GW of electrolysis, Orsted said.

Orsted aims to connect the electrolyser directly to a new 2 GW offshore wind farm in the Dutch North Sea. The offshore wind farm could be built in one of the zones in the southern part of the Dutch exclusive economic zone already designated for offshore wind development, it said.

Industrial players in the region, grouped under the Smart Delta Resources, or SDR, industry partnership, were already in dialogue with transmission system operators to develop a 45 km open-access hydrogen pipeline network stretching across the North Sea Port area from Vlissingen-Oost in the Netherlands to Gent in Belgium.

The network could be extended further south to ArcelorMittal and further north, underneath the river Scheldt, to Zeeland Refinery, offering "significant carbon reduction in the manufacturing processes of ammonia, chemicals, and steel and a significant contribution to the European Green Deal," Orsted said.

"In the meantime, several projects are being developed in the region on the sites of industrial players, such as Zeeland Refinery's envisaged 150 MW electrolyser, which are also to be connected to the network," it said.

The industrial cluster had also proposed extending the 380 kV high-voltage network for electrification needs of industry south of the river Scheldt.

"This would enable GW-sized electrolysis and offshore wind landing zones on both sides of the river, turning the cluster into a true energy hub," Orsted said.

"A 380 kV connection to Zeeuws Vlaanderen will be critical to support large-scale direct electrification of Dow's world-scale ethylene plants in Terneuzen," said Anton van Beek, Chairman of the Board, Dow Benelux.

Subject to the right regulatory and economic conditions being in place, the regional network would unlock a first 500 MW phase of SeaH2Land. A second 500 MW phase would require connection to a national hydrogen backbone, providing additional flexibility and storage, Orsted said.

"SeaH2Land will help the Netherlands to accelerate its offshore wind build-out and to work towards its ambition of 3-4 GW electrolyser capacity by 2030," said Steven Engels, Orsted's General Manager, Benelux.