Private-sector start up firms Norwegian Hydrogen and Australia-based Provaris Energy will set up a facility that could produce around 40,000 t/yr of green hydrogen in the Norwegian municipality of Alesund.
The two firms eye transport of compressed green hydrogen to key European import hubs.
Norwegian Hydrogen and Provaris Energy had announced plans for shipping renewable hydrogen in compressed hydrogen tankers from Norway in January, saying at the time that they were yet to find a preferred location for setting up a production facility.
The firms have now received approval for a site with an electrolyser capacity of 20MW in Alesund. The two start-ups envisage 270MW electrolyser capacity when the plant is fully developed and have submitted an application for development of the remaining 250MW.
The Alesund site will be the largest renewable hydrogen production plant in Norway, according to the firms, although they did not detail a timeline for the project. The plant could help cut 500,000 t/yr of CO2 emissions, the firms said.
Some supply from the facility will be delivered to local consumers, but "a large volume of green hydrogen will be exported to Europe," Norwegian Hydrogen's chief executive Jens Berge said.
Norway's electricity grid is almost entirely decarbonised largely thanks to the country's ample hydropower capacity. This means that electrolysers could be linked to the domestic grid while still complying with the EU's definition for renewable hydrogen which applies to domestic production and imports alike.
The firms see shipments of compressed hydrogen as an economically viable option for shorter distances that could complement — rather than compete with — pipeline transport. Provaris' managing director Martin Carolan previously said that the company is confident of achieving transport costs below $1/kg for journeys in the 1,000-2,000 nautical mile range, although this was for volumes of above 100,000-200,000 t/yr. He said the process of compressing hydrogen is cheaper and less energy intensive than hydrogen liquefaction, or conversion and reconversion to ammonia.
