Greenstat and Everfuel to develop Hydrogen Hub Agder

Everfuel and Greenstat will, in a joint venture, establish a hydrogen hub in Kristiansand, Norway.

Following up on the cooperation agreement entered in July 2021, Greenstat and Everfuel now announce that they are actively pursuing establishing a hydrogen hub in Kristiansand, Norway. In a collaboration between the two parties and the industry companies Elkem and Glencore Nikkelverk, they will work towards a hydrogen production facility in Kristiansand, which will be accompanied by a distribution centre targeting the fast-growing shipping segment as well as offtake opportunities from partners in the construction, trucking mobility and green energy supplies to industrial clients.

The project partners are collaborating with Elkem for the lease of land at the seafront on the Fiskaa industrial compound near the harbours. The construction is planned to consist of two phases; where the first phase is a hydrogen production facility with a 20 MW electrolyser producing around 8 MT of green hydrogen per day. The second phase, anticipated to be commissioned in 2027, expands the PtX facility to a 60 MW electrolyser.

The location close to the harbours in Kristiansand, Norway, makes it ideal for maritime hydrogen supplies using both container swapping and cascade fuelling. A group of ambitious partners, some of which wish not to be disclosed at this point, have entered into intention agreements to offtake hydrogen in Kristiansand. Holland-Norway Lines, FFS Marine, and Arriva Shipping have all signed letters of intent, expressing their interest in offtaking hydrogen from the facility. As Kristiansand is also a logistics hub for multiple companies, the location is attractive for partners in the mobility segments. Here,  Asko Agder and Implenia, among others, have signed letters of intent to offtake hydrogen from the project.

Furthermore, a letter of intent has been signed with Glencore Nikkelverk for the offtake of the excess oxygen from the production facility. Combined with potential use of excess heat from the facility in collaboration with Elkem Carbon, Everfuel and Greenstat will create a highly energy-efficient PtX-facility.

Depending on funding and later permitting, the commissioning of the first phase is expected in late 2024. The parties have recently submitted a funding application to ENOVA to help realise this important contribution to the green shift in the region. The project is based on a 51/49 joint venture between Everfuel and Greenstat.

“The development of Hydrogen Hub Agder is a manifestation of the fruitful collaboration we have with Greenstat, who are equally dedicated as us in making green hydrogen commercially available. In this project, we have managed to engage with a number of visionary and ambitious partners, who are all exploring different ways of decarbonising their operations. We look forward to developing competitive hydrogen solutions for multiple purposes in collaboration with Greenstat, and to make above all shipping, but also mobility and industry a bit greener in Norway,” says Helge Skaarberg Holen, Country Manager for Everfuel in Norway.

“For Greenstat it is a real pleasure to work with this project in our home region Agder. We have a clear ambition together with Kristiansand municipality and Agder county to realise the ‘Electric Region Agder’ vision and to make the maritime sector fossil-free,” says Torstein Thorsen Ekern, managing director of Greenstat Energy.

“The partnership with Everfuel has been very constructive and has complemented our own competence and business orientation effectively. Everfuel’s vast experience with hydrogen production and distribution will be of great value for the project, and the cooperation with the industry companies Elkem and Glencore Nikkelverk, makes the project even more solid and stronger,” says Torstein Thorsen Ekern.