Tata Steel Netherlands and Ecolog, together with Gen2 Energy and Port of Amsterdam, are exploring the import of liquid hydrogen and export of liquid carbon dioxide (CO2).
Hydrogen will be produced in Norway from hydropower, cooled and liquefied, and then shipped in specialist vessels owned by ECOLOG.
Liquid hydrogen will be transported to ECOLOG’s terminal at the Port of Amsterdam and converted back into a gaseous state, whereby it can be delivered to Tata Steel and other companies via a planned pipeline network.
In the production of steel, even in the new greensSteel installations, a small amount of CO2 is still emitted.
This quantity of CO2 is only a fraction of what is emitted in the production of coal-based steel but by capturing and storing it, Tata Steel aims to produce climate-neutral steel.
During King Willem Alexander’s and Minister Hermans’ visit, Tata Steel and ECOLOG signed a second agreement, along with Horisont Energi, the Port of Amsterdam, OCAP, the Norwegian bank DNB, and ABN AMRO, to explore a CO2 corridor.
CO2 from Amsterdam will be exported to Norway, and captured at Tata Steel and other companies in the region. The cold energy released during the conversion of liquid hydrogen to gas at ECOLOG’s terminal will be used to liquefy the CO2 at the same location.
In this form, the CO2 can be transported by ship to Horisont Energi’s import terminal in Norway, where it will be permanently stored. This creates a liquid hydrogen/CO2 corridor, with efficient management of energy.
The two agreements build on the strong collaboration between the Norwegian and Dutch governments in the energy sector. The exploration of liquid hydrogen/CO2 corridors will further strengthen the collaboration between the two countries, with the intended establishment of a structural connection between the Port of Amsterdam and Norway, making a clear contribution to the shared goal of CO2 reduction.
Equinor recently dropped plans to export blue hydrogen from Norway to Germany.
The Norwegian oil and gas major previously agreed with RWE to build a hydrogen supply chain to decarbonise power plants in Germany. However, plans were scrapped due to insufficient demand, inadequate regulatory framework and high prices.
The total cost of the pipeline was reported to cost around €3bn ($3.35bn), whilst the total supply chain could have also reached the “tens of billion euros range”.
