Orsted plans to develop renewable hydrogen plant in NW Europe

LONDON (ICIS)–Denmark’s Orsted on Wednesday unveiled plans to develop one of the world’s largest renewable hydrogen plants to be linked to industrial demand in the Netherlands and Belgium.

The “SeaH2Land” project aims to link gigawatt(GW)-scale electrolysis to the large industrial demand in the Dutch-Flemish North Sea Port cluster through an envisaged regional cross-border pipeline.

The green electricity required to produce the renewable hydrogen is proposed to come from the build-out of additional large-scale offshore wind.

The SeaH2Land vision includes a renewable hydrogen production facility of 1GW by 2030 to be developed by Orsted to enable sustainably-produced steel, ammonia, ethylene, and fuels in the future.

If realised, the electrolyser, which will produce the renewable hydrogen, will convert about 20% of the current hydrogen consumption in the region to renewable hydrogen.

Project partners include ArcelorMittal, Yara, Dow Benelux, and Zeeland Refinery, with talks now planned with regulatory authorities on the framework and policies needed to support the huge project.

“As the world looks to decarbonise, it’s paramount that we act now to secure the long-term competitiveness of European industry in a green economy,” said Orsted’s chief commercial officer and deputy group CEO, Martin Neubert.

“The SeaH2Land project outlines a clear vision and roadmap for large-scale renewable hydrogen linked to new offshore wind capacity.

“With the right framework in place, the Netherlands and Belgium can leverage the nearly unlimited power of offshore wind to significantly advance renewable hydrogen as a true European industrial success story.”

Manfred Van Vlierberghe, CEO of ArcelorMittal Belgium, added: “Our ambition is to build a hydrogen pipeline between Dow in Terneuzen and ArcelorMittal in Ghent.

“Together with our partners in the Smart Delta Region, we will develop an ecosystem with a great complementarity of companies and knowledge centres.”

Graphic courtesy of Orsted