(Alliance News) - Oil major BP PLC and Danish energy firm Orsted on Tuesday said they have agreed to work together to develop green hydrogen in Germany.
The two firms intend to build an initial 50 megawatt electrolyser and associated infrastructure at BP's Lingen refinery in north-‎west Germany. This will be powered by renewable energy generated by an Orsted offshore ‎wind farm in the North Sea and the hydrogen produced will be used in the refinery.‎
Under their letter of intent, BP and Orsted will work together to further define the project, agree ‎definitive documents and plan to make a final investment decision in early 2022. The companies anticipate the project could be ‎operational by 2024.
The electrolyser project is expected to produce one tonne per hour of green ‎hydrogen, or almost 9,000 tonnes a year. This would be enough to replace around a fifth of ‎the refinery's current 'grey' hydrogen consumption, where the production of grey hydrogen releases a lot of carbon dioxide.
Grey hydrogen is mainly produced by reforming natural gas for industrial applications and releases a lot of carbon dioxide, whereas green hydrogen is usually produced through electrolysis, where water is split into hydrogen and oxygen, which results in less carbon dioxide.
The two have applied for funding for the Lingen green hydrogen project from ‎the EU Innovation Fund.
Shares in BP were up 5.4% at 242.40 pence in London on Tuesday.
By Lucy Heming; lucyheming@alliancenews.com
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