Shell Gas & Power Developments BV and Uniper Hydrogen GMBH have signed an MoU to accelerate development of a hydrogen economy in Europe. The collaboration will examine infrastructure requirements for large-scale transport of hydrogen and CO2 from the ports of Rotterdam and Wilhelmshaven to North Rhine Westphalia (NRW).
Taking what the companies describe as a full value-chain approach, Shell and Uniper said they will work backwards from customer demand to identify key opportunities to develop the foundation of a new hydrogen economy in Europe.
”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," said Dr. Axel Wietfeld, chief executive officer, Uniper Hydrogen. “By way of hydrogen Uniper provides a CO2-free solution of how to transport the abundant renewable electricity from coastal regions and from offshore wind farms to the inland.”
Among the projects considered will be Shell’s Rheinland transformation, under which work is ongoing to repurpose an existing refinery into a state-of-the-art energy and chemicals park. Shell on July 2 opened a 10-Mw polymer electrolyte membrane electrolyzer, using wind and solar power to produce hydrogen, and is working with partners to expand capacity to 100-Mw.
Uniper seeks to expand the supply of hydrogen from its existing production sites at Rotterdam and Wilhelmshaven to the Shell Energy and Chemicals Park Rheinland sites at Wesseling and Godorf, Germany.
Uniper earlier this year repurposed the Wilhelmshaven site of a planned LNG terminal to instead be part of a proposed German national hydrogen hub (OGJ Online, Apr. 19, 2021).
