Offshore staff
LONDON – bp and Ørsted have signed a letter of intent on developing the Lingen Green Hydrogen project in Germany.
This will involve constructing initially a 50-MW electrolyser and associated infrastructure at bp’s Lingen refinery in northwest Germany, powered by energy generated at an Ørsted offshore wind farm in the North Sea.
Produced hydrogen will then be used in the refinery. The two companies plan to take a final investment in early 2022, with the project potentially operational by 2024. Electrolysis splits water into hydrogen and oxygen gases. When powered by renewable energy, this produces ‘green’ hydrogen, without generating direct carbon emissions, according to bp.
Hydrogen is widely used in refinery processes by reforming natural gas, but this does result in CO2 emissions (and is therefore known as ‘grey’ hydrogen).
The electrolyser project should produce 1 metric ton/hr (1.1 ton) of green hydrogen or close to 9,000 metric tons/yr (9,921 tons). This would be sufficient to replace around 20% of the refinery’s current grey hydrogen consumption, bp said.
Both companies have together applied for funding for the project from the EU Innovation Fund.
11/10/2020
