The Port of Rotterdam Authority has said it will accelerate plans to build a public hydrogen network in the port area as part of joint sustainability venture with Shell and Gasunie to boost the ‘hydrogen economy’.
In a statement, the Port of Rotterdam said the hydrogen economy, the use of hydrogen in large-scale industrial environments, is “gathering momentum” after Shell announced plans to take a green hydrogen plant into operation by 2023.
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The plant will be constructed at Maasvlakte 2, the Port of Rotterdam. From here, the hydrogen will be transported via proposed a pipeline to Shell’s refinery in Pernis. The Port of Rotterdam Authority will build said pipeline with Dutch gas company Gausinie.
The green hydrogen plant and the pipeline are part of a series of projects associated with the production, import, use and transfer of hydrogen in which the Port Authority is working together with a variety of partners.
These concrete projects seamlessly tie in with the hydrogen outlook recently published by the Dutch government.
Allard Castelein, CEO of the Port of Rotterdam Authority, said: “We are currently expediting our plans to construct a public hydrogen network in the port area. The work on this backbone for Rotterdam’s industrial sector will be rounded off concurrently with Shell’s electrolyser.
“A main transport network like this can be used to connect producers and users. This in turn helps to create a market and boosts the production and consumption of hydrogen.
“Besides accommodating production, in the longer term Rotterdam will also play a crucial part in the import of hydrogen thanks to the realisation of multiple hydrogen terminals. Hydrogen promises to become the energy carrier of the 21st century.
“In Northwest Europe, we will not be able to produce sufficient hydrogen locally, meaning that a large volume will need to be imported. Rotterdam will play a central role in this process – similar to its current role in the oil sector. This allows us to reinforce the port of Rotterdam’s position as an important pillar of the Dutch economy.”
