The Institute for Sustainable Process Technology (ISPT) presents a design for a gigawatt-scale green hydrogen plant. The plant will enable hydrogen production on a huge scale. This is necessary in view of the energy transition, in which hydrogen has an important role to play.
Hydrogen is playing an increasing role in our society. Among other things, when it comes to mobility. For instance, several car manufacturers already announced hydrogen-powered vehicles, including Opel and Toyota. A pilot project has also been set up around the use of hydrogen in aviation. And Defence is going to deploy hydrogen vehicles.
Large energy demand
Hydrogen therefore plays an important role in the energy transition. This leads to a large energy demand, including from the industry and transport sector. Meeting this demand requires hydrogen production on a huge scale, ISPT argues. The institute therefore presented a design for an advanced gigawatt-scale green hydrogen plant at the end of January. The plant - whose design is part of the Hydrohub Gigawatt Scale Electrolyser project - should be able to be operational by 2030.
Green hydrogen is hydrogen produced without CO2 emissions. Production is based on a process called electrolysis. This is a chemical reaction in which compound substances are decomposed into single substances under the influence of electric current.
'Key role for carbon-free industry'
The ISPT points out that hydrogen plays a key role for the CO2-free (process) industry of the future. At present, green hydrogen is used, among other things, in the production of fertiliser. Eventually, it should also be used in processes that require high temperatures, such as steel production. Currently, we still use coal or natural gas for this purpose.
Dutch targets for hydrogen in the Climate Agreement include an electrolysis capacity of 3 to 4 gigawatts (GW) by 2030. At European level, the ambition is 40 to 60 GW by 2030. This calls for massive production. The largest existing hydrogen plant currently has a capacity of up to 10 megawatts (MW).
Capacity of 1 GW
The plant for which the ISPT is now presenting a design is based on a design for a green hydrogen plant with a capacity of 1 GW. The plant is capable of both alkaline water electrolysis (AWE) and polymer electrolyte membrane (PEM) water electrolysis. These are two different processes for producing hydrogen. ISPT's plant is located in a Dutch port area and runs on wind power from the North Sea. The production site can operate flexibly, depending on the amount of wind available.
The ISPT calls the investment required for the design "manageable". Compared to a 2020 design from the Hydrohub Gigawatt Scale Electrolyser project, the cost of the current design is almost halved. The expected total investment is currently €730/kW or €1580/(kg H2/d) for AWE and €830/kW or €1770/(kg H2/d) for PEM. A GW scale (AWE) electrolysis plant requires a converted investment of €730 million.
'Ambitious'
Carol Xiao toe, programme manager Hydrohub Innovation Program at ISPT, calls the 2030 plans ambitious. "The Hydrohub Gigawatt Scale Electrolyser project provides a nice blueprint. It is now up to industrial parties and knowledge institutes to pick up the gauntlet and innovate further. Because the current results are promising, but we are not there yet. We need to work on innovation and realisation now to achieve the 2030 goals. And the Netherlands has everything we need to succeed in this," Xiao explains. Xiao's programme is already working hard on the necessary innovations in areas such as infrastructure, optimisation of electrolyser technology and safety and regulation.
Nienke Homan, board member of GH2 (Green Hydrogen Organisation) and former climate deputy for the Province of Groningen, is optimistic about progress towards 2030. However, Homan also points out the urgency to accelerate. In the foreword to the project report, she writes: "In the past century, we learned to use oil and gas to create more prosperity for all. But now we have to make another huge switch and this time we don't have a century. Climate change is forcing us to act fast. In fact, we can meet the 2030 deadline - and we will meet it."
Partners
ISPT worked with several partners in the project. These include Dow Chemical, Gasunie, Nobian, OCI, Ørsted and Yara, and knowledge institutes TNO, Imperial College London, TU/e and Utrecht University. The Hydrohub Gigawatt Scale Electrolyser project is co-financed by TKI Energy and Industry with the supplementary grant 'TKI Supplement' for Top Consortia for Knowledge and Innovation (TKIs) from the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Climate.
More information on ISPT's design is available in the report 'A one-gigawatt greenhydrogen plant'. A 3D impression of the plant is available here.
Author: Wouter Hoeffnagel
Source image: ISPT
