Sweco to design two green hydrogen plants in North Sea Port

Engineering consulting firm Sweco has been commissioned by VoltH2 to design two green hydrogen plants in the North Sea Port area.

Thanks to these 25 megawatt hydrogen electrolysis plants, millions of kilos of hydrogen will be produced from wind energy within a few years.

The two planned hydrogen plants will generate green hydrogen using electricity from wind energy at sea. The construction uses technology that has already been successfully applied in the industry and is available from various suppliers.

Local filling stations can also be supplied through the integration of hydrogen storage. Due to its design, the green hydrogen plant will be extendible to 100 megawatts with a potential production of approximately 15 million kg of green hydrogen per year. For comparison: using the energy from 1 kg of hydrogen, a passenger car can travel about 100 km.

“The use of available commercial green hydrogen is one of the keys in the global energy transition to limit the use of fossil fuels. This is now fast becoming an economic reality. Zeeland offers enormous potential due to the large-scale demand for hydrogen, the plans for regional connections and the space for sustainable energy production by means of wind at sea.”

André Jurres, founder and Managing Director of client VoltH2

In the first project phase, Sweco is responsible for the complete design, the necessary permits and the subsidies. Using an international team of Belgian and Dutch specialists, Sweco is able to carry out the entire project in an integrated manner.

“Virtually all large green hydrogen projects currently exist only on paper, with only a few already at the design and licensing stage. Because we have closely followed market developments in recent years, we have been able to build up a specialised team to take on this challenge at an early stage. We’re expecting market demand to grow significantly in the coming years.”

Tom Van Den Noortgaete, Division Director Energy, Sweco Belgium.

Hydrogen is one of the cornerstones of energy transition that will be receiving a lot more attention in the coming years.

“We’re facing a huge challenge to transform the entire energy system into a low-CO₂ system in the next 30 years so that we can combat climate change. We need all the sustainable technologies and can’t afford to wait any longer. Hydrogen will play a key role in our future energy mix. At this point in time we’re starting in the Zeeland ports, but eventually it will become a global market, with Belgium and the Netherlands being the centre within Europe owing to existing industry and infrastructure.”

Sara Vander Beken, team manager