INEOS launches new Clean Hydrogen business; BP announces new German hydrogen partnership
20 November 2020
INEOS and BP have both announced new hydrogen projects in recent weeks as industries continue to invest in green hydrogen as part of a worldwide drive towards a zero-carbon future. INEOS launched a new business on November 9 to develop and build Clean Hydrogen capacity across Europe, while BP announced a joint project with Ørsted to develop green hydrogen in Germany.
Image: INEOS
INEOS currently produces 300,000 tonnes of hydrogen a year mainly as a co-product from its chemical manufacturing operations. Through its subsidiary INOVYN, INEOS is Europe’s largest existing operator of electrolysis, the critical technology which uses renewable energy to produce hydrogen for power generation, transportation and industrial use.
INEOS’ new business will have its headquarters in the UK and aims to build capacity to produce hydrogen across the INEOS network of sites in Europe, in addition to partner sites where hydrogen can accelerate decarbonisation of energy.
INEOS is already involved in several projects to develop demand for hydrogen, replacing existing carbon-based sources of energy, feedstocks and fuel. It expects to develop further partnerships with leading organisations involved in the development of new applications. INEOS will also work closely with European Governments to ensure the necessary infrastructure is put in place to facilitate hydrogen’s major role in the new Green Economy.
Wouter Bleukx, Business Unit Manager Hydrogen said “Hydrogen is an important part of a climate neutral economy that has been discussed for decades. Finally, a hydrogen-fuelled economy is within reach as transportation in the UK, Germany, France and other countries begins to run on this carbon free technology. With extensive experience in electrolysis, INEOS is uniquely placed to support these new opportunities, driven by emerging demand for affordable zero-carbon energy sources.”
Image: BP
Elsewhere, BP and Ørsted have signed a Letter of Intent (LOI) to work together to develop a project for industrial-scale production of green hydrogen. In their proposed Lingen Green Hydrogen project, the two firms intend to build an initial 50-megawatt (MW) electrolyser and associated infrastructure at BP’s Lingen Refinery in north west Germany. This will be powered by renewable energy generated by an Ørsted offshore wind farm in the North Sea and the hydrogen produced will be used in the refinery.
Under their LOI, BP and Ørsted will now work together to further define the project, agree definitive documents and plan to make a final investment decision (FID) early 2022, subject to appropriate enabling policies being in place. The companies anticipate the project could be operational by 2024.
The 50 MW electrolyser project is expected to produce one tonne an hour of green hydrogen or almost 9,000 tonnes a year. This would be sufficient to replace around 20% of the refinery’s current grey hydrogen consumption, avoiding around 80,000 tonnes of CO2 equivalent emissions a year – equivalent to the emissions from around 45,000 cars in Germany.
BP’s Executive Vice President for Gas and Low Carbon Dev Sanyal said: “Hydrogen will have an increasing role to play in meeting the energy demands of a decarbonizing world. And we are determined to build a leading position in this emerging industry. Bringing together Ørsted and BP, Lingen Green Hydrogen offers the opportunity both to accelerate significant emissions reduction in our refinery and build experience of large-scale green hydrogen production and deployment. This has the potential to play an important role in the development of a hydrogen economy, in Germany and beyond.”
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