Shell will build Europe's largest clean hydrogen plant.
It is expected that the Shell Holland Hydrogen I plant will be built in the Netherlands, namely in the port of Rotterdam. The green energy consumed by the 200 MW cell will come from the Hollandse Kust (Noord) offshore wind farm, also owned by Shell.
This huge electrolyser will produce 60 tons of hydrogen per day. This hydrogen will be used to power the Shell Energy and Chemicals Park Rotterdam refinery. This will partially decarbonize the production of petroleum products.
Shell, in explaining the use of hydrogen in this way, refers to the fact that there is currently no proper demand for hydrogen in the transport sector. When fuel cell commercial and passenger vehicles become popular, Shell announces that some of the products will be reoriented to this market, which will significantly help the process of decarbonization of transport.
In addition to the new plant, Shell intends to install hydrogen pumps at some filling stations, especially in strategic locations such as highways and major cities. This would unravel the Gordian knot that hydrogen and hydrogen fueled vehicles (FCEVs) are currently in: automakers don't sell hydrogen cars because there aren't hydrogen gas stations, and energy companies aren't investing in hydrogen stations because there aren't enough hydrogen cars. In this situation, someone has to make the first move.
A good way to solve this problem would be to use hybrid (PHEV) fuel cells. Instead of burning hydrogen or gasoline, they will use the hydrogen in their tanks to efficiently recharge their batteries. NamX and Toyota are pursuing a swappable hydrogen capsule strategy. Shell, in turn, can help them by building the world's largest clean hydrogen plant.
