Eoly, part of Belgian food retail group Colruyt, offshore wind developer Parkwind and gas infrastructure group Fluxys have announced plans to build a facility in Zeebrugge to use electricity from offshore wind to produce green hydrogen on an industrial scale
A feasibility study for the project has been completed and the consortium has issued a call for tenders for construction of the plant. The partners in the project hope to take a final investment decision later this year, potentially in Q3 2020. The facility’s construction could start in mid-2021 with initial production from early 2023.
The Hyoffwind project would be the first industrial-scale power-to-gas installation in Belgium. The 25-MW facility is in line with industrial-scale projects being planned elsewhere in Europe.
The project partners said the feasibility study had proved “the technology is mature enough” and “the legislative framework and permits for the project provide a sufficient basis to realise the project.” The consortium is working with Elia, the Belgian transmission system operator, on the project.
Parkwind chief executive François Van Leeuw said, “”The feasibility of the project has been demonstrated. This project fits with the objectives of the Flemish Government on hydrogen and the European Green Deal.”
In January 2020, Port of Oostende, DEME and PMV said they plan to develop a green hydrogen plant that would also use energy from offshore wind.
Their goal is to have a plant operational in the port area of Ostend by 2025. The green hydrogen produced at the HYPORT plant will serve as an energy source for a range of purposes.
In the first phase of the project the feasibility of a green hydrogen plant will be further investigated and a development plan worked out. The next phase will see a demonstration project developed using what the project partners described as “an innovative electrolyser of around 50 MW.”
By 2022, the partners in the HYPORT project plan to roll-out a large-scale shore-based power project. The green hydrogen plan will be completed in 2025, in line with new offshore wind concessions that are due to be let.
In February 2020, £7.5M (US$9.8M) in funding was awarded for the next phase of Gigastack, a renewable hydrogen project, as part of the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy’s Hydrogen Supply Competition.
The Gigastack project, led by ITM Power, Ørsted, Phillips 66 Limited and Element Energy, will show how renewable hydrogen derived from offshore wind can support the UK’s 2050 net-zero greenhouse gas emissions target.
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