Shell eyes hydrogen growth and 25mtpa of carbon capture and storage capacity by 2035

Oil major Shell plans to achieve a double-digit market share of global green hydrogen sales by 2030 and to have access to 25 million tonnes per annum (mtpa) of carbon capture and storage (CCS) capacity by 2035, said the company in its recent energy transition strategy.

This would be around 20% of the capacity of all CCS projects being studied around the world today, said the company strategy.

Shell’s goal is to produce green hydrogen through electrolysis, using renewable power from wind and solar. However, the company also believes that blue hydrogen can play a role in accelerating the energy transition.

Green hydrogen is generated by splitting hydrogen and oxygen from water with an electrolyser powered by renewable energy. This releasing zero process carbon emissions. While blue hydrogen comes from reforming natural gas alongside CCS technology, capturing up to 97% of potential emissions.

The company’s new hydrogen strategy includes:

• developing integrated hydrogen hubs to serve industry and heavy-duty transport
• repurposing of existing infrastructure like retail sites and gas pipelines
• capturing a double-digit share of global green hydrogen sales by 2030

Shell sees three main areas of demand for hydrogen into the future: transport, industry and heating.

SHELL HYDROGEN PROJECTS

The company is set to develop integrated hydrogen hubs initially to serve industry and heavy-duty transport. Shell is also expected to start producing and supplying hydrogen for its own manufacturing sites, especially refineries by 2030.

Shell is partner in five hydrogen projects:

Rotterdam Green Hydrogen Hub: Shell is working with partners to develop a green hydrogen hub in the Port of Rotterdam. In July 2020 Shell and Eneco’s CrossWind consortium were awarded a tender for the 759MW Hollandse Kust Noord offshore wind project in the North Sea, which will become operational in 2023. Shell is planning to build a 200MW electrolyser in the Port of Rotterdam to produce about 50,000 – 60,000 kilograms (kg) of hydrogen a day. The green hydrogen produced will initially be used at the Shell refinery in Pernis to partially decarbonise the production of fossil fuels. A final investment decision on the electrolyser is set to be taken this year.

H-Vision: Shell is supporting H-vision, a consortium of 10 companies looking to decarbonise industry by replacing natural gas and coal with blue hydrogen at the Port of Rotterdam.

NortH2: Shell, Equinor, Gasunie and Groningen Seaports, and RWE are planning to construct wind farms in the North Sea with a capacity of 3GW to 4GW for green hydrogen production by 2030, with the potential to grow to 10GW by 2040.

“This project is still subject to a feasibility study, but if given the go-ahead, NortH2 will be capable of producing 800,000 tonnes (tn) of green hydrogen by electricity generated from an offshore wind farm in the North Sea,” said Elisabeth Brinton, Executive Vice President, Renewables & Energy Solutions in a recent statement.

The first turbines could be ready in 2027 and will be used for green hydrogen production that will mainly be used to supply the industrial sector.

REFYHNE: At its Shell Rhineland Refinery in Germany, the company is working to install a 10MW proton exchange membrane (PEM) electrolyser. It is set to be operational in 2022 and produce 1,300tn of hydrogen a year.

This project will be under development until 2021,is being funded by the European Commission and could be expanded further, Shell told ICIS.

Acorn: Shell is an equal partner of the Acorn hydrogen and carbon capture and storage (CCS) project based in St Fergus, Scotland, alongside Harbour Energy and Storegga, which leads the project through its wholly owned subsidiary Pale Blue Dot Energy. The project will utilise existing oil and gas infrastructure at the St Fergus gas processing terminal and aims to reformNorth Sea natural gas into blue hydrogen using Autothermal Reforming (ATR) technology. The hydrogen produced would then be used in transport and industry, as well as for distribution and blending into the gas grid. The Acorn project is expected to complete its first injection of hydrogen into the gas grid by 2025.

Shell is also working to develop  infrastructure that is needed for hydrogen to grow as a transport fuel.

“We currently have interests in more than 40 hydrogen refilling stations across Europe. This includes Germany, where we are part of a government-supported project to develop a network of refuelling stations for passenger cars,” explained Brinton.

In addition, the company is developing a 12MW solar park as a part of the energy hub GZI Next in the town of Emmen. The energy hub will produce hydrogen for transport purposes.

Shell is also teaming up with three partners on a green hydrogen project in Hamburg, Germany. The project includes a scalable electrolyser with an initial output of 100MW. Production of green hydrogen could begin in 2025, the companies – Shell, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Vattenfall, and Warme Hamburg – said in a joint statement in January.

Additional reporting by Jake Stones