(Adds industrial players in close vicinity)
FRANKFURT, Jan 22 (Reuters) - Hamburg is planning to
generate green hydrogen, which is produced from renewable power,
at a plant it will develop with energy firms Shell,
Mitsubishi and Vattenfall, the city state
said on Friday.
Hamburg's municipal heating company has signed a letter of
intent with the three companies to develop a 100 megawatt (MW)
facility to extract hydrogen from water through electrolysis, it
said.
Hydrogen produced at the so-called Green Energy Hub would be
derived from wind and solar power, the statement said. Hydrogen
produced using fossil fuels is not carbon free.
The technology is part of Germany's plan to decarbonise its
economy by 2050.
The planned Hamburg plant is one of a number of similarly
sized projects currently awaiting final investment decisions
which will be needed to bring hydrogen output in Europe's
biggest economy closer to commercially viable levels.
"This is a bold venture that now needs to be filled with
life," said Jens Kerstan, head of the supervisory boards at
public sector Waerme Hamburg and Gasnetz Hamburg.
The partners plan to apply for funding from European Union
programmes under Important Projects of Common European Interest
(IPCEI), they said. Subject to a final investment decision,
production could start in 2025.
The plant would be located at Moorburg, a Hamburg suburb
where Vattenfall is idling its conventional coal-to-power
generation plant to avoid heavy carbon pollution from coal
burning.
Moorburg is connected to high and low voltage grids. If
additional hydrogen imports are needed, ships can call at the
site directly via the Elbe river, with discharging services
offered at the city's port.
The municipal gas grid's hydrogen pipeline could also be
expanded within 10 years.
The region also includes many potential consumers of green
energy, the partners said.
Major industrial businesses in the area whose processes are
currently highly carbon intensive include aluminium producer
Trimet, steelmaker ArcelorMittal , and
copper smelter Aurubis.
(Reporting by Vera Eckert; Editing by Kirsten Donovan and Jan
Harvey)
