Enova has given Everfuel A/S and Greenstat ASA a grant of NOK 148 million to aid in the creation of the Hydrogen Hub Agder.
At the Elkem Fiskaa industrial complex in Kristiansand, Norway, a 20 MW electrolyzer will be built as part of the hub.
As Kristiansand is a significant port for both Norwegian coastal traffic and maritime travel to the rest of Europe, the hub’s main objective is to provide the shipping sector with sustainable fuel. Additionally, Kristiansand serves as an important entry point for travelers traveling through Denmark’s Jylland region to Norway. The project will begin planning and carrying out immediately, with operations set to begin in the fourth quarter of 2024.
Following a collaboration agreement announced in July 2021, the project hub is the first significant joint venture between Everfuel and Greenstat. Together with the industrial firms Elkem and Glencore Nikkelverk, the two parties will create Hydrogen Hub Agder.
The partners are focusing on the rapidly expanding shipping market as well as offtake potential from partners in the construction sector, truck mobility, trash services, taxi fleets, as well as supplying green energy to industrial clients. Letters of Intent indicating a total annual offtake of more than 8,000 metric tons (MT) of compressed hydrogen have been signed by Everfuel and Greenstat with a number of clients. After the second phase of construction, which will boost the electrolyzer capacity to 60 MW, the full hub potential is anticipated to be realized.
For the leasing of waterfront property on the Fiskaa industrial complex close to the Kristiansand harbor, the project and Elkem have agreed to a collaboration agreement. A 20 MW electrolyzer that produces around 8 MT of green hydrogen per day is part of the initial phase of the construction, which is divided into two stages. The 60 MW electrolyzer in the second phase, which would extend the PtX plant, is anticipated to be operational in 2027.
For maritime hydrogen supply employing cascade fueling and container swapping, the area close to the harbor is appropriate. Holland-Norway Lines, FFS Marine, Arriva Shipping, and a number of other ambitious partners have signed letters of intent (LOIs), indicating their willingness to off-take hydrogen from the project. Partners in the transportation segments are drawn to Kristiansand because it serves as a logistics base for several businesses. Mobility partners signing LOIs for hydrogen offtake include ASKO, a renowned logistics firm, and UMOE, a renowned Kristiansand-based manufacturer of hydrogen gas containers.
For the offtake of the surplus oxygen from the manufacturing plant, an LOI has also been signed with Glencore Nikkelverk. Everfuel and Greenstat will build a very energy-efficient PtX-facility with Elkem Carbon, aiming for a power efficiency of over 90%, along with the possible utilization of the facility’s surplus heat. It would then rank among Europe’s most effective water electrolysis plants.
“The partnership with Everfuel has been very constructive and has complemented our own competence and business orientation. Everfuel’s extensive experience with hydrogen production and distribution is of great value to the development, and the cooperation with the industry companies Elkem and Glencore Nikkelverk, adds further strength and solidity to the Hydrogen Hub Agder project,” says Vegard Frihammer, the CEO of Greenstat ASA.
“In Greenstat we would also like to express our gratitude to the support and trust from Enova to realize the Hydrogen Hub Agder project. It is a real pleasure for us to work with this project in our home region. Kristiansand municipality and Agder County have both mobilized strong and valuable support for the project. Together we have a clear ambition to realize the ‘Electric Region Agder’ vision and to make the maritime sector fossil-free,” says Torstein Thorsen Ekern, managing director of Greenstat Energy.
“We are very pleased with the grant from Enova and consider it as a vote of confidence to the role Everfuel and Greenstat are playing to facilitate the green shift in Norway. We are looking forward to working with our clients and together with Greenstat, Elkem, and Glencore Nikkelverk to deliver on the plan we have presented to Enova,” says Jacob Krogsgaard, the CEO of Everfuel.
