Shell, ENGIE, Vopak and Anthony Veder will cooperate to produce, liquify and transport green hydrogen from Portugal to the Netherlands.
The consortium aspires hydrogen to be produced by electrolysis from renewable power in the industrial zone of the Sines port.
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Then the hydrogen is liquified and shipped via a liquid hydrogen carrier to the port of Rotterdam for distribution and sale.
The aim is to deliver a first shipment of liquid hydrogen from Sines to Rotterdam by 2027.
Dr. Andreas Gorbach, Head of Truck Technology and Member of the Board of Management Daimler Truck AG, said:
We consider liquid hydrogen as a key solution to import renewable energy into markets such as the Netherlands or Germany. We are developing the next generation of trucks which can use liquid hydrogen directly
Shell and ENGIE will collaborate across the full value chain, with and Anthony Veder and Vopak focusing on shipping, storage, and distribution.
At first, they will assess the potential of producing, transporting, and storing around 100 tonnes per day, with potential to scale this up over time.
This feasibility study follows the signing of an MoU in 2020. Furthermore, Portugal and the Netherlands confirmed their joint goals at the Rotterdam World Hydrogen Summit in May 2022.
At first all looks ok, but serious questions may may be asked, like the square kilometers of land covered by solar panels, the energy spent to liquefy the hydrogen, most probably the energy required to transport it, most probably using an heavy fuel oil ship diesel engine. A lot of renewable energy and agriculture land will be destroyed by this project.
Hydrogen must be produced locally, and transported by LOHC a method with better energy efficiency than liquefaction.
May be interesting for these applications to put aside non justified arguments against nuclear power and produce hydrogen with less efficiency as the politicians like, unfortunately not like wise engineers think.