By Tim Barsoe
COPENHAGEN, March 31 (Reuters) - Denmark's Orsted
plans to develop an offshore wind farm and adjacent
hydrogen plant at the North Sea Port straddling the
Dutch-Belgian border, the company said on Wednesday.
The wind farm would have capacity to produce 2 gigawatts of
electricity and would power the 1-gigawatt hydrogen plant. The
hydrogen facility would be able to produce about 116,000 tonnes
a year by 2030 for use as energy.
Orsted has not made a final investment decision, and it did
not provide details on the proposed budget. The company still
needs regulatory approval and to make a full feasibility study
of the project.
Hydrogen can be used in fuel cells to generate power in
applications such as heavy industry, aviation and shipping.
Demand for hydrogen in the North Sea Port area is 580,000 tonnes
a year, and a 1 gigawatt plant would cover 20%, Orsted said. It
estimated that demand in the area will have almost doubled by
2050.
Orsted, the world's largest offshore wind farm developer,
has invested in several projects that will use renewable energy
to produce hydrogen, which currently is mostly produced with
non-renewable sources of electricity such as natural gas.
The proposed plant is supported by a group of companies that
will also pursue an expansion of local pipelines to handle the
hydrogen. The companies include steel producer ArcelorMittal
, fertiliser producer Yara, Zeeland Refinery
and chemical product producer Dow Benelux
.
Hydrogen is made by electrifying water to separate hydrogen
from oxygen.
"As the world looks to decarbonise, it's paramount that we
act now to secure the long-term competitiveness of the European
industry," Orsted Chief Commercial Officer Martin Neubert said
in a statement.
(Reporting by Tim Barsoe; Editing by Cynthia Osterman)