As the world shifts away from dirty to new energy sources, several leading European firms have agreed to work together to study the feasibility of producing, liquefying, and transporting green hydrogen from Portugal to the Netherlands, where it would then be stored and distributed for sale.
The consortium, including Shell New Energies, ENGIE, Vopak, and shipping company Anthony Veder, announced in a statement on Monday that the firms envisioned that hydrogen would be produced by electrolysis from renewable power in the industrial zone of the Sines Port. The hydrogen will then be liquefied and shipped via a liquid hydrogen carrier to the port of Rotterdam for distribution and sale. The plan is to deliver the first shipment of liquid hydrogen from Sines to Rotterdam by 2027.
Within the consortium, Shell and ENGIE will collaborate across the full value chain and Anthony Veder and Vopak’s involvement will focus on shipping, storage, and distribution. They will initially assess the potential of producing, transporting, and storing around 100 tonnes of hydrogen per day, with the potential to scale this up over time.
Key stakeholders in the global road transport, marine and aviation sectors have supported the development, saying it aligns with their intention to decarbonise operations.
“We consider liquid hydrogen as a key solution to import renewable energy into markets such as the Netherlands or Germany. We are developing the next generation of trucks which can use liquid hydrogen directly,” Dr Andreas Gorbach, head of truck technology and member of the board of management Daimler Truck AG, said.
However, the consortium said the sector needed to build more certainty for customers of liquid hydrogen.
“Policy instruments that cover cost increases for end-users can be an effective means to achieve this. Such instruments are vital to increase the scale and reduce the cost of liquid hydrogen production and have the power to drive the infrastructure development along the full supply chain,” the consortium said.
The governments of Portugal and the Netherlands have strengthened their joint ambition for the production and transport of hydrogen.
The feasibility study follows the signing of a memorandum of understanding between the governments of Portugal and the Netherlands in 2020 in which they aimed to strengthen their joint ambition for the production and transport of hydrogen.
Portugal and the Netherlands also confirmed their joint goals at the Rotterdam World Hydrogen Summit in May.
