OSLO, Nov 9 (Reuters) - Royal Dutch Shell and Norsk
Hydro are looking into jointly producing hydrogen from
renewable electricity in a push to decarbonise their own
operations as well as supply heavy industry and transport
customers, Hydro said on Tuesday.
The Anglo-Dutch oil giant and the Norwegian aluminium
maker's green hydrogen unit, Hydro Havrand, have signed a
memorandum of understanding (MoU) and begun initial work to
identify opportunities to produce and supply renewable hydrogen.
So-called green hydrogen is a zero-carbon gas made by
electrolysis using renewable power to split water into hydrogen
and oxygen, increasingly promoted as a way to decarbonise
emissions-intensive industry and transport sectors reliant on
fossil fuel.
Shell and Hydro will initially identify which European
locations are best suited to produce renewable hydrogen for the
companies' own consumption as well as for the broader market,
and expand into other locations at a later stage.
"We are looking at potential locations where we both have
operations and we have potential to use hydrogen in our existing
facilities," Per Christian Eriksen, head of Hydro Havrand, told
Reuters.
Hydrogen production could be placed in locations where Shell
and Hydro both have relatively high gas consumption, and also
where there is potential to deliver to a third-party market, for
example refineries or other process industries that already use
"grey" hydrogen made from non-renewable power, Eriksen said.
"Hydro Havrand and Shell can work toward a shared goal of
establishing integrated hydrogen value chains and ultimately a
strong global market for hydrogen," Elisabeth Brinton, Shell's
executive vice president for renewables & energy solutions, said
in a statement.
Shell and Hydro will spend the coming nine months exploring
the opportunities for collaboration, said Arvid Moss, head of
Hydro's Energy unit.
"What is important for the decarbonisation of society is
that large industrial players work together to find solutions
quicker, because what we need is scale," he told Reuters.
(Reporting by Victoria Klesty; Editing by Terje Solsvik and
Steve Orlofsky)
