The port of Amsterdam to import one million tons of green hydrogen, H2Gate.
The port of Amsterdam has been transshipping all kinds of goods and cargo for 750 years. Once started with fish and wood, later gasoline and cocoa were added. With the ambition to operate climate neutral, the port is now starting a new chapter: importing green hydrogen. We want to import one million tons of green hydrogen under the name H2Gate.
Hydrogen is an emission-neutral energy carrier with various possibilities. It can be used as a transport fuel, in households, for industry and as a raw material for industrial processes, such as the production of synthetic kerosene. The Port of Amsterdam is committed to scaling up the production of green hydrogen. This is hydrogen produced in a sustainable way, using wind or solar energy.
Demand greater than supply
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For example, we are one of the initiators of the construction of a hydrogen factory in IJmuiden, together with Tata Steel and Nouryon. There, hydrogen must be produced in a few years’ time using the offshore wind farms off the coast of IJmuiden. Despite these plans and the associated substantial investments in wind and solar energy, the demand for hydrogen will soon exceed the supply. That is why we are investigating, together with a number of partners, including Evos, whether it is feasible to import and store green hydrogen from the Mediterranean or North Africa on a large scale.
Hydrogen is a game changer
Eric Warners, project leader at Strategy & Innovation at Port of Amsterdam, endorses the importance of importing hydrogen and is confident that this is feasible:
We cannot manage with only locally produced green hydrogen. Not even with the expansion of the number of offshore wind farms in the coming years.
“The Netherlands has little space and we expect that there will be social pressure not to use all electricity as fuel. Hydrogen can be a real game changer due to its many applications. We expect demand to increase. We are now preparing for that by looking at whether we can ship one million tons of hydrogen to Amsterdam every year.”
Importing hydrogen with innovative techniques
The hydrogen we want to import is sustainably generated in countries where the sun shines much more than here and where there is less pressure on available space. According to Eric, you should see our role in transport and storage: “We get the hydrogen cargo to Amsterdam by ship. We are currently investigating the best way to do this. Transporting hydrogen is not easy. You can make it liquid by cooling it to about minus 252 degrees, but that also requires a lot of energy and therefore costs. That is why we are now looking at techniques with which we can ‘stick’ hydrogen to other cargo.”
This research should show how that sticking of hydrogen to other cargoes works. Three innovative parties from Israel, France and Germany are now working on this. Three parties, each with their own expertise and techniques. Eric: “We are convinced that there is sufficient space in the market for every player. Together with these players, we are trying to find out to what extent cooperation offers additional advantages in order to make the import to Amsterdam as efficient as possible. At the end of the study, we know where the opportunities lie and we map out the next route.” The knowledge needed for the storage of hydrogen in Amsterdam is provided by Evos (formerly VOPAK), one of our project partners. Evos specializes in the storage of all kinds of cargo: from gas to liquid and from fossil to chemical raw materials.
Urgent and sensible
After the study has been completed in the summer, we will know whether large-scale import of green hydrogen is technically and commercially feasible. If that is the case, this does not mean that we can start with this import after the summer, says Eric. “For this, the demand for hydrogen will have to develop further in the coming years. It will probably take until 2030 before the first ships with green hydrogen will call at our port. But if we want to be a climate-neutral port by 2050, we must prepare for this now and look at alternatives. We started this about ten years ago. During that time, the urgency for a climate-neutral society has only increased. At the same time, we really need a few more years to make a transition. Because in addition to the fact that we have to invest a lot in this,knowledge and technology is also very important. All three are necessary to make the transition sustainable. So we also need to have a little patience so that we can make wise choices.”
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Soon there will be hydrogen in the hold of the ship, 31 May 2021
