Industrial gases company Air Products and the Hamburg Port Authority are working together on clean hydrogen to identify ways to accelerate production, consumption and the development of a supply chain at the port and more widely across the north German state of Hamburg. The terms of the agreement have been set out under a memorandum of understanding.

On the demand side, the two companies are focused on hydrogen applications to decarbonise heavy-duty vehicles, including port logistics, and industry.

“Ports and their industrial clusters in Hamburg, and around the world, have a critical role to play in expanding hydrogen’s role in the energy transition,” says Kurt Lefevere, vice-president and general manager at Air Products.

US-based Air Products has been supplying hydrogen to the port of Hamburg and Germany for over 40 years. It supplies hydrogen refuelling stations across the country and is a member of the country’s H2 Global scheme, which supports the development of clean hydrogen production outside the EU by granting projects subsidised offtake agreements for import to Germany.

Hamburg hydrogen hub

Proposals to develop Hamburg as a green hydrogen hub started to take shape last year with a plan to build a 100MW electrolyser at the site of the former coal-fired Moorburg power station.

“Ports and their industrial clusters in Hamburg...have a critical role to play in expanding hydrogen’s role in the energy transition” Lefevere, Air Products

The project is a joint venture between Shell, Japan’s Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Swedish utility Vattenfall and municipal heating company Warme Hamburg.

“The interest of Air Products underlines the potential of the Port of Hamburg with regards to the development of a hydrogen infrastructure,” says Michael Westhagemann, Hamburg’s senator for economics and innovation.

 

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Author: Stuart Penson