Shell, Uniper to collaborate on developing European hydrogen economy
Shell and Uniper to explore the opportunities to develop the required infrastructure to support a hydrogen economy in Europe.
Shell Gas & Power Developments BV and Uniper Hydrogen GmbH have agreed to expedite the development of a hydrogen economy in Europe, H2Bulletin reports.
Under the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) both partners will explore potential opportunities for hydrogen demand in industrial and mobility sectors and hydrogen supply, production and storage.
Both partners will start working to develop potential synergies to accelerate existing projects in Germany, the Netherlands and some other European countries by considering the full value chain from customer demand to exploring the building the foundation of a new hydrogen economy in the region.
Paul Bogers, VP of Shell Hydrogen, said, “Collaborations like this one are necessary to accelerate the transition to hydrogen usage in both transport and industry and Shell is excited to be playing our part in driving this change.”
Dr Axel Wietfeld, CEO, Uniper Hydrogen, said, “Our mission is to connect Uniper’s large scale hydrogen projects – e.g. in the Netherlands and in Northern Germany – with industrial customers to enable a decarbonisation of our economy.”
The collaboration will explore the necessary infrastructure for large scale transport of hydrogen and CO2 from the ports of Rotterdam and Wilhelmshaven to North Rhine Westphalia (NRW). Uniper will explore the supply of hydrogen from the existing Uniper production sites at Rotterdam and Wilhelmshaven to the Shell Energy and Chemicals Park Rheinland locations at Wesseling and Godorf. Moreover, Uniper intends to connect its power plant in Gelsenkirchen Scholven and some large-scale customers with its coastal hydrogen production plants.
Other projects include Shell’s Rheinland transformation, which is transforming an existing refining asset into a modern energy and chemicals park. Shell officially opened a 10 MW PEM electrolyser, the largest of its kind in Europe, on 2nd July 2021. The plant is part of the Refhyne European consortium and with European Commission funding through the Fuel Cells and Hydrogen Joint Undertaking (FCH JU). The electrolyser is installed at Shell’s Energy and Chemicals Park Rheinland, producing green hydrogen. Plans are underway to expand the capacity of the electrolyser to 100 MW. Shell also plans to produce sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) using renewable power and biomass in the future. A plant for liquefied renewable natural gas (bio-LNG) is also in development.
