Vattenfall, Shell, MHI plan 100 MW green hydrogen plant at Hamburg

Vattenfall, Shell, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) and municipal heat supplier Warme Hamburg have signed a letter of intent to turn Vattenfall's Moorburg power plant site into a green hydrogen production site, it said Jan. 22.

A scalable electrolyser with an initial output of 100 MW is to start by 2025 pending future investment decisions.

This would make it one of the largest such plants in Europe at that time, it said.

Germany has seen a number of 100 MW project proposals recently, but the world's biggest electrolyser project with 88 MW capacity was awarded Jan. 18 to ThyssenKrupp by Hydro Quebec for a 2023.

Further development of the Hamburg-Moorburg site into a "Green Energy Hub" is planned using existing infrastructure of the coal plant shut end-2020 after only five years of operation, it said.

Storage and logistics chains for hydrogen will also be considered, while electricity supply was based on wind and solar, it said with the site already connected to the 380 kV national grid and 110 kV local grid while its import terminal can accommodate large ships.

The partners intend to apply for funding under the EU program "Important Projects of Common European Interest" (IPCEI) launched for hydrogen in December.

Submission of a first outline of the project is planned this quarter, it said.

Hamburg's climate ambitions

Vattenfall's head of strategic development Andreas Regnell said supporting the city of Hamburg with its ambitious climate goals by bringing in its expertise and experiences and the Moorburg site that has the infrastructure that is necessary for large scale production of hydrogen was key.

"The gas pipeline networks in the port and around Moorburg are now being expanded to accommodate hydrogen and to facilitate supplies to industry and large businesses," said Hamburg's energy and environment minister Jens Kerstan, who also heads the supervisory board of the municipally-owned heat and gas grid companies Waerme Hamburg and Gasnetz Hamburg.

"I have always believed in the project at the Moorburg site. There is no better location in Hamburg for a scalable electrolyser of this size. Via the 380 kV connection and the connection to Brunsbuettel, we have direct access to the supply of green electricity from wind power -- and thus the possibility of actually producing green hydrogen in relevant quantities," according to Hamburg's economy minister Michael Westhagemann, who first proposed such a project in 2019.

Hamburg's mayor in February 2020 also made converting the Moorburg coal plant a key election pledge. The city state is run by a coalition of SPD/Greens.

The municipal gas network company intends to expand a hydrogen grid in the port by 2030 and is already working on the necessary distribution infrastructure.

Numerous potential large industrial customers for green hydrogen are located near Moorburg, enabling the project to cover the entire hydrogen value chain.

Vattenfall's 1.6 GW Moorburg coal plant was awarded closure compensation in the first German tender in December with the plant already off the market.

Final decommissioning is pending a decision by the grid operator on the system relevance of the plant expected in March.

The City of Hamburg and Vattenfall are striving to clear partial areas of the site as soon as possible.

S&P Global Platts assessed the price of green hydrogen (Netherlands, PEM electrolysis including capex) at Eur4.42/kg Jan. 20. For alkaline electrolysis, the comparable assessment was Eur3.73/kg.

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Source: S&P Global Platts, developers