(Düsseldorf / Rotterdam) – The energy group Uniper SE has commissioned the Dutch-French engineering and technology company Technip Energies NV to prepare the front-end engineering study (FEED) for the “H2 Maasvlakte” hydrogen project in the port of Rotterdam. Uniper wants to build an electrolyzer there with an initial output of 100 megawatts, which is scheduled to be put into operation in 2025. H2 Maasvlakte is to be gradually expanded to a total electrolysis capacity of 2030 megawatts for green hydrogen by 500.
The contract was awarded after the European Commission nominated the project as an important project of common European interest (IPCEI), which also provides funding. According to Uniper, there is a lot of support from third parties, such as renewable energy producers applying for the Hollandse Kust VI and VII (West) offshore wind farms, as well as from OEMs for electrolyzers to buyers of green hydrogen in industrial processes.
The “H2 Maasvlakte” project
“H2 Maasvlakte” is part of the Rotterdam “Uniper Energy Hub”. The company wants energy from offshore wind farms as well as the port's shipping options 
use green fuels. The location's advantages include the existing infrastructure, large areas of land that allow the production of green hydrogen up to a gigawatt scale, and the option to distribute the waste heat generated by the electrolysis process. There are also a number of potential industrial customers for hydrogen locally from the chemical, energy and petrochemical sectors.
According to Allard Castelein, CEO of the Port of Rotterdam Authority (PoR), Uniper's decision to start the FEED phase of its 100 megawatt electrolyser is “an important next step in making Rotterdam the hydrogen hub of Europe “.
The two companies had already completed a joint feasibility study on the large-scale production of green hydrogen on the Maasvlakte site last year. In September, Uniper and PoR agreed to develop the site for the production of green hydrogen.
The facility will one day be connected to the HyTransport.RTM pipeline, which runs through the port of Rotterdam. It will later connect the Uniper plant with the national hydrogen infrastructure and the “Delta Corridor” – a project for the delivery of hydrogen to the chemical clusters in Moerdijk and Geleen with Chemelot, one of the largest industrial parks in the Netherlands, as well as to North Rhine-Westphalia.
Photos
Future location of the Uniper electrolyzers on the Maasvlakte, a large industrial and port area in Rotterdam. © Uniper SE
Class schedule
The Uniper “H2 Maasvlakte” project consists of a whole bundle of projects: electrolyzers, fed with electricity from offshore wind farms, supply hydrogen, heat and oxygen to industrial customers. During the later expansion, the site will be connected to a hydrogen pipeline. © Uniper SE
