Orsted and BP have agreed to jointly develop a 50MW renewable hydrogen project at BP’s Lingen refinery in Emsland, north-west Germany.
The electrolyser, which is expected to be operational in 2024, is expected to be powered by one of Orsted’s offshore wind farms, the developer said.
The electrolyser will generate up to one tonne of renewable hydrogen per hour or almost 9000 tonnes a year, enough to replace approximately 20% of the refinery’s current fossil-based hydrogen consumption.
The project is also intended to support a longer-term ambition to build more than 500MW of renewable hydrogen capacity at Lingen, to produce enough hydrogen to meet all the refinery’s hydrogen demand and provide feedstock for future synthetic fuel production.
Orsted executive vice president Martin Neubert said: “Heavy industries such as refineries use large quantities of hydrogen in their manufacturing processes.
“They will continue to need hydrogen, but replacing the currently fossil-based hydrogen with hydrogen produced from renewable energy can help these industries dramatically lower their CO2 footprint.
“But first, renewable hydrogen has to become cost competitive with fossil-based hydrogen, and for that we need projects such as this with BP’s Lingen refinery which will demonstrate the electrolyser technology at large scale and showcase real-life application of hydrogen based on offshore wind.”
Besides green hydrogen production, the project is additionally focusing on maximising the efficiency of the electrolyser system and allowing flexible operation and complete integration into the refinery, said Orsted.
The scope of the engineering and commercial studies will also include assessments for sustainable uses of the main by-products of electrolysis, primarily oxygen and low-grade excess heat.
The partners have jointly applied for funding for the project named Lingen Green Hydrogen from the EU Innovation Fund.
BP executive vice president for gas and low carbon Dev Sanyal added: “Hydrogen will have an increasing role to play in meeting the energy demands of a decarbonising world.
“And we are determined to build a leading position in this emerging industry.
“Bringing together Orsted 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.”