9 January 2018
DETAILS
AkzoNobel Specialty Chemicals and Gasunie New Energy
have joined forces to investigate the possible large scale
conversion of sustainable electricity into green hydrogen
via the electrolysis of water.
Intended for Delfzijl in the Netherlands,
the installation would use
a 20 megawatt water electrolysis unit,
the largest in Europe,
to convert sustainably produced electricity
into 3,000 tons of green hydrogen a year
– enough to fuel 300 hydrogen buses.
A final decision on the project is expected in 2019.
The planned 20 megawatt facility is an important step
towards scaling up the electrolysis technology. So far,
the largest planned electrolysis unit
in the Netherlands has a capacity of 1 megawatt.
The eventual aim is to be able
to build installations that convert and store
sustainable energy in the form of hydrogen
on an even larger scale (from 100 megawatts).
AkzoNobel and Gasunie complement each other
in the required expertise for this project, which includes
* gas transport and storage,
* electrolysis and
* handling of hydrogen.
Both companies want to play an active role
in the transition to a CO2-neutral economy,
and the project is in line with
their respective initiatives in renewable energy
– including hydrogen.
Both companies agree that the northern part of the Netherlands
is perfectly positioned to develop
a green hydrogen economy,
due to
* the large-scale production and import of green electricity,
* the existing chemical industry,
* the current gas transmission infrastructure,
* the knowledge infrastructure and
* the support within the Northern Innovation Board.
Ulco Vermeulen,
Member of Gasunie’s Executive Board
“Achieving the Netherlands’ CO2 reduction targets
and the corresponding transition in the energy system
will be a huge challenge,”
“This requires not only vision, but also
immediate action and concrete collaboration.
“We see ‘power to gas’
not only as a promising technology,
but also as one that will be necessary
to achieve a fully sustainable energy mix by 2050.
Hydrogen also plays a crucial role
in achieving the emission reduction target
set by the Dutch government for 2030, i.e.,
a reduction of CO2 emissions by 49% compared to 1990.
To make sure we have enough hydrogen in 2030,
we will need to take steps now
to validate the technology at different scales.”
Marcel Galjee,
Energy Director at AkzoNobel Specialty Chemicals
“Industry is important for the economy, but is also
responsible for a large percentage of CO2 emissions.
Only with far-reaching change of its industrial activities
can the Netherlands achieve the international climate targets.
During this transition,
new value chains and revenue models
can emerge across sectors
through collaboration between companies.
“The vast majority of the
more than 800,000 tons of hydrogen
used by Dutch industry each year
is produced using natural gas.
Replacing this by sustainably produced hydrogen
will reduce CO2 emissions by seven million tons.
However, the real potential is
in large-scale production
as the basis for green chemistry.”
WWW.CHEMWINFO.COM BY KHUN PHICHAI
