Netherlands – 600 MW wind farm needed for 5% hydrogen in gas-fired power stations
From 2030, Dutch gas-fired power stations must add 1% hydrogen. In 2032, this will increase to at least 5%. It is one of the measures of the Schoof cabinet to achieve additional CO2 reduction in 2030.
Many of the additional climate measures presented on Friday 25 April 2025 had already been leaked. However, I had not yet noticed the hydrogen blending obligation for gas-fired power stations. It is also nothing to get excited about.
Co-firing a little hydrogen in power stations is just as funny as mixing hydrogen into the natural gas network for central heating boilers. The calorific value of hydrogen is about 66% lower than that of natural gas. Mixing 1% or 5% hydrogen therefore only saves 0.3% and 1.5% CO2 emissions in gas-fired power stations respectively.
Mutual settlement makes the task more feasible
In 2030 and also in 2032, not all gas-fired power stations will be connected to the national hydrogen network. Supplying hydrogen by truck or producing hydrogen near the gas-fired power station is an option. However, trading in the mandatory cubic meters of hydrogen is also permitted. A gas-fired power station that burns more than the mandatory percentage of hydrogen may offset the excess cubic meters of hydrogen with a power station that continues to burn 100% natural gas. CO2-free and controllable
For the time being, we can easily store all the sustainable hydrogen that becomes available in existing fertilizer factories and oil refineries.
However, there will come a time when the already far-reaching sustainable electricity production must be completely CO2-free. A sustainable electricity system with a lot of wind, nuclear and solar energy therefore needs CO2-free controllable capacity.
Hydrogen-fired gas plants are doing very well here. The settlement system for the blending obligation offers hope that some operators of gas plants will eventually start using more sensible percentages of hydrogen, for example 50% or even better 100% directly in a modernised gas turbine or in a set of new gas engines .
The previous cabinet decided that the Dutch electricity sector should be CO2-free in 2035. Cabinet Schoof surprisingly still maintains that target. However, the step from 5% in 2032 to 100% CO2-free in 2035 suggests that this target has secretly been abandoned behind closed doors.
The €780 million subsidy reserved for the conversion of gas-fired power stations to hydrogen power stations – available for power stations that burn more than the mandatory percentage of hydrogen – is in any case no more than a tip. The earning capacity of gas-fired power stations that burn ‘normal’ natural gas is already under pressure .
A large wind farm must be operational by 2032 to meet the blending obligation
In 2024, gas-fired power stations supplied 43 billion kilowatt hours (kWh) of electricity. Last year, coal-fired power stations supplied almost 10 billion kWh and must close by 2030. To get a sense of the size of the blending obligation, I assume that the required controllable capacity in 2030 and 2032 is roughly 50* billion kWh, and that gas-fired power stations will fill this in completely. In 2030, 0.2 billion kWh must come from hydrogen. In 2032, 0.8 billion kWh.
In 2032, this will require around 42,000 tonnes of renewable (green) hydrogen per year, assuming an efficiency of 60% in gas-fired power stations. This will require roughly an electrolyser and an offshore wind farm of 600 megawatts. CO2 storage likely to be allowed
It will be a close call whether there will be that much electrolysis capacity in operation in the Netherlands in 2032. For now, only 200 megawatts are under construction. Investment decisions for smaller projects have been made, but not enough to add up to 600 megawatts.
If (blue) hydrogen produced from natural gas with CO2 storage is also permitted within the blending obligation, the Porthos CO2 storage project could provide a solution. This project is expected to come into operation next year and will mainly receive CO2 from hydrogen producers in the port of Rotterdam.
Hydrogen certificates for greening or blueing blast furnace gas?
Several Dutch gas-fired power stations already meet the blending obligation for 2032. The IJmond (144 megawatts) and Velsen 25 (380 megawatts) power stations burn blast furnace gas released during steel production by Tata Steel. Pragmatic paper trade
This blast furnace gas is produced during the production of pig iron from ore and coal and consists of roughly 5% hydrogen and 20% carbon monoxide. The rest of the volume (mainly nitrogen and CO2) does not contribute to the calorific value.
So you could say that the blast furnace gas plants always co-fire 20% hydrogen. Because steel production continues almost all year round, blast furnace gas is also produced almost continuously. This suggests that the blast furnace gas turbines (can) achieve high utilisation. A good 4 billion kWh per year together is possible.
Attribute 20% of that to hydrogen and the 2032 blending obligation is precisely covered, provided we can consider the coal-fired carbon from Tata Steel’s blast furnace gas as renewable or CO2-free.
And that is also possible, because the green and (probably) also the blue premium labels of hydrogen can be traded separately . A producer of more sustainable hydrogen can sell guarantees of origin . With these certificates, the hydrogen part of the blast furnace gas can be washed green or blue. The blast furnace gas plants can then sell the hydrogen electricity production above the 5% obligation to the competition, who continue to burn 100% natural gas.
If I have not made any errors in my thinking and calculations, the announced blending obligation for 2030 and 2032 can now be fulfilled purely administratively. Without an extra cubic meter of hydrogen entering a gas-fired power station in the real world.
READ the latest news shaping the hydrogen market at Hydrogen Central
Netherlands – 600 MW wind farm needed for 5% hydrogen in gas-fired power stations, source
