Rotterdam plans 1GW electrolyser for ‘green hydrogen’

The JV, named ‘Zeevonk II’, won a permit to build the IJmujiden Ver Beta wind farm in the Netherlands, which will generate 2GW of electricity from wind alongside a floating solar platform generating 50MW.

This electricity will be used to power the electrolyser, which means it will earn the ‘green’ certificate: hydrogen being created by using energy from renewable sources.

The new electrolyser will be built at the Maasvlakte, a man-made extension of the port built by reclaiming land from the North Sea.

“It is Port of Rotterdam Authority’s ambition to bring the electrolysis in the port up to a capacity of 2 to 2.5GW by 2030,” says Boudewijn Siemons, CEO of Port of Rotterdam Authority. “This new development brings us closer to our goal. The Maasvlakte area offers both plenty of space and the required infrastructure, such as the direct connection to the hydrogen network that is currently under construction. It confirms yet again that Rotterdam’s hydrogen economy is already under way.”

The site reserved for the electrolyser is adjacent to Dutch Transmission System Operator TenneT’s future Amaliahaven high-voltage substation, where the 2GW direct current cable from the wind farm will connect.

A hydrogen line is also being built alongside, so that ’the hydrogen that will be generated here can be transported to the client in an efficient manner’.