The future should always be greener – also with the help of hydrogen. This overview shows the world’s largest hydrogen projects.
More and more cars are being operated electrically, electricity is generated by wind turbines and solar systems, and hydrogen is supposed to make production plants greener and protect the environment. Hydrogen is used in many areas, for example as an alternative fuel or fuel. It can also be converted into heat and electricity.
By being greener If hydrogen can be produced completely without fossil raw materials, it is considered to be really climate-friendly. Due to the many advantages that green hydrogen brings with it, interest is increasing and production is also expected to grow.
We show you the 10 largest hydrogen projects that are currently planned
The British oil company BP has received support from the Australian government for the implementation of its project. A feasibility study is to determine whether the western Australian city of Geraldton is a suitable location for a pilot plant for the production of 20,000 tons of green ammonia per year.
The pilot plant will initially produce environmentally friendly hydrogen, which will then be converted into green ammonia. This is then intended for both domestic and export use. According to BP, the commercial-scale plant would need a capacity of 1.5 gigawatts of electricity. If the pilot plant works successfully, the operator could increase the capacity to one million tons of green ammonia in the long term.
Ammonia is a colourless gas at room temperature. The chemical compound consists of nitrogen and hydrogen with the molecular formula NH3. Green ammonia describes the manufacturing process: In contrast to ammonia produced conventionally from fossil fuels, green ammonia is based on renewable energies.
Because green ammonia can be used both as a basic chemical, as a fuel and as a comparatively easy-to-transport hydrogen storage medium, toxic gas plays an important role in the global energy transformation.
As early as July 2019, the French energy supply group Engie and Enaex, a Chilean manufacturer of ammonium nitrate, formed a strategic alliance.
According to the Chilean “Diario Financiero”, the joint HyEx project will include a 2 GW solar park and a 1.6 GW hydrogen electrolysis plant. This plant could produce 124,000 tons of green hydrogen per year, which could then be used in an ammonia plant.
In this plant, 700,000 tons of green ammonia could be produced annually. 50 per cent of the ammonia would go to Enaex’s ammonium nitrate plant, eliminating the need to import it and the rest could be used for fuel, green manure production and the export market.
The goal by 2024: The operation of a pilot plant that includes a 36 MW solar system, a 26 MW hydrogen electrolyzer and 18,000 tons of ammonia every year. Full operation is scheduled for 2030.
According to estimates by Engie and Enaex, the HyEx project has an annual CO 2 reduction potential of over 600,000 tons.
For this project, the seaport of the Belgian city of Ostend, the company Deme, active in the field of marine technology, and PMV have joined forces. The goal by 2025: The commissioning of a green hydrogen plant in the port area of Ostend. Until then, the project goes through the following steps:
⦁ Phase 1: Checking the general feasibility and creating a development plan
⦁ Phase 2: Start of a demonstration project with mobile shore power supply
⦁ Phase 3: Roll-out of a green hydrogen-powered electricity project (starting by 2022)
In addition, 399 wind turbines are to be put into operation off the Belgian coast. Together, these would have a total capacity of 2.26 GW. According to Dewe, there would also be room for several hundred more such systems, which could generate an additional 1.75 GW. This means that the total generation capacity for green electricity is 4 GW. Half of the Belgian households could be supplied with it.
The green hydrogen, the product of the HYPORT project, is intended to act both as an energy source and as a raw material. After completion of the project, an annual CO 2 reduction of 500,000 to one million tons should be achieved.
Australian infrastructure company Hydrogen Utility (H2U) is also planning a new project to produce green hydrogen. The company is working with Thyssenkrupp to do this. A 3 GW electrolysis plant is to be built near the Australian port city of Gladstone, Queensland.
This project was started by an Australian start-up: The renewable energy provider Ausstrom Hydrogen. According to the company, it chose the city of Callide in Queensland as the location for a solar park and a plant for the production of hydrogen. Up to 3.6 GW of green electricity in the form of hydrogen is to be produced in one plant.
The project is still in the development phase, but in the long term, the hydrogen is to be exported by ship to Japan, South Korea and other countries.
The solar park will use a mixture of existing and newly created infrastructures to be able to supply the hydrogen plant with green electricity. Because the electricity is generated near the hydrolyser, there should only be a very small loss in performance.
According to outflow Hydrogen, other advantages and goals of the project are:
⦁ The creation of thousands of jobs in Queensland.
⦁ Annual production of over 200,000 tons of hydrogen.
⦁ The Development of a New Export Industry for Australia.
⦁ Obtain the necessary permits by the fourth quarter of 2022.
⦁ Start of construction by the second quarter of 2023.
1.5 million euros – with this amount, Germany is participating in a planned 20 MW hydrogen electrolysis plant from Thyssenkrupp, which is to be built in Saudi Arabia. The facility, which can produce hydrogen from solar and wind power, is set to become part of Project NEOM, the Saudi “planned city,” which could cover an area of 26,500 square kilometres.
The environmentally friendly ammonia plant is to be operated with renewable energy. To this end, Air Products (provides the technology for producing nitrogen through air separation), ACWA Power and NEOM have reached a joint agreement worth five billion US dollars to build a hydrogen-based ammonia production plant.
Also present: the Danish catalysis company Haldor Topsoe, whose technology is to be used for the production of green ammonia.
From the planned commissioning in 2025, that’s part of the project, 650 tons of hydrogen and 3,000 tons of ammonia are produced daily from over 4 GW of environmentally friendly electricity. The green ammonia is then to be shipped overseas.
Solar and wind power plants with a capacity of 5 GW are to be built near the Australian city of Kalbarri. The company Hydrogen Renewables Australia (HRA) is pursuing this project and has secured cooperation with the Danish fund manager Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners (CIP) .
The electricity generated by the plants is to be used to produce green hydrogen. The water required for the electrolysis is to be obtained by a seawater desalination plant.
A feasibility study is also to be carried out first for this project. The construction of the plants would create jobs for 2,000 to 3,000 people. Once the plants are up and running, 250 to 300 people could be employed on a permanent basis.
The Murchison Renewable Hydrogen project can be broken down as follows:
This project, which is based on a support association currently consisting of 40 companies, is also pursuing a major goal: by 2035, a generation capacity of 10 gigawatts for green hydrogen from offshore wind energy is to be achieved on the island of Helgoland and then transported to land.
Thanks to electrolysis technology, one million tons of green hydrogen could soon be extracted from the North Sea every year, from Helgoland to the Dogger Bank. Aqua Ventus is also striving for long-term integration into a European hydrogen network. The Doggerbank forms the endpoint with a connection to other offshore hydrogen hubs and with cross-connections to Great Britain, Denmark and the Netherlands.
Do you want to know everything about CO 2 -neutral industry? Then you are right here. You can find out everything about the current status of the climate-neutral industry, which technical innovations there are, how mechanical engineering is reacting and what the legal situation is in the article “The large overview of CO 2 -neutral industry “.
Regenerative energies are needed to make the climate-neutral industry a reality. Read here which renewable energies are available and how they are most useful in the industry.
Or are you more interested in the subject of hydrogen?
Shell EquinorGasunie, RWE and the port of Groningen Seaports – are all involved in the hydrogen project NortH 2. Together they want to set up a system of offshore wind farms, electrolysers, gas storage facilities and pipelines. This should not only allow offshore wind to be converted into green hydrogen but this electricity should also be stored and brought to industrial centres in northwest Europe.
A centre for green hydrogen is to be built in the north of the Netherlands with a capacity or electrolysis capacity of 4 GW by 2030 and more than 10 GW by 2040. In this way, one million tons of green hydrogen could be produced each year and eight to ten million tons of CO 2 avoided at the same time.
The goals for the Asian Renewable Energy Hub were set very high – it is currently the largest planned hydrogen project. The site was 6,500 square kilometres “cut out” of a 14,000 square kilometre property in the East Pilbara region of Western Australia. Initially, 26,000 MW are to be generated there with the help of wind turbines and photovoltaic systems. The energy thus obtained is to be used primarily to produce environmentally friendly hydrogen products for both domestic and export use.
The long-term goals:
⦁ The generation of 26 GW of renewable wind and solar power
⦁ At least 3 GW of low-cost, clean power generation capacity for the Pilbara region
⦁ Up to 23 GW of electricity generation for the production of green hydrogen and green ammonia
⦁ The creation of 20,000 jobs during the 10-year construction period and 3,000 jobs during the operating period
⦁ Up to 100 TWh of total annual generation
⦁ A system service life of more than 50 years
