TotalEnergies’ green hydrogen drive is firmly underway as it steps up efforts to decarbonise its refineries.
In 2023 it launched a call for tenders to secure a supply of 500,000 tonnes of green hydrogen per year from 2030 to supply its European refineries.
Last summer, it signed a 15-year agreement with Air Products for the annual supply in Europe of 70,000 tonnes of green hydrogen starting in 2030.
Read more: Air Products and TotalEnergies signs major green hydrogen supply deal
And now it has announced a major deal with Air Liquide.
The ELYgator project, a 200MW (megawatt) electrolyser in Rotterdam, will produce up to 23,000 tonnes of renewable and low-carbon hydrogen per year from 2027, powered by offshore wind. The second project, a 250MW electrolyser in Zeeland, will produce up to 30,000 tonnes annually under similar conditions from 2029.
Read more: Air Liquide and TotalEnergies invest €1bn in Dutch green hydrogen
It’s not the first agreement between the two companies – they joined forces last November to produce renewable hydrogen, at La Mède in southeast France – but it signals that their relationship is switching gears.
With an annual capacity of 25,000 tonnes, coproducts will be recycled from TotalEnergies’ biorefinery. The hydrogen will then be used to produce biodiesel and sustainable aviation fuel.
TotalEnergies is also continuing the development, with partner ENGIE, of the Masshylia project of green hydrogen production by water electrolysis with a capacity of 10,000 tonnes per year, to contribute to the decarbonisation of both the biorefinery and local customers at the Fos-Berre industrial-port zone.
Like many hard-to-abate sectors, traditional oil refineries and integrated energy companies are facing up to the challenges of addressing Paris commitments and reducing their greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions (which account for about 25-30% of global emissions).
This is particularly complex for an industrial process whose bread and butter includes converting crude oil into refined transport fuels, such as gasoline, diesel, jet fuel, and fuel oil.
Replacing fossil fuels in combustion applications to generate heat and steam could create a larger market for low-carbon hydrogen in refining. In this segment, the potential market for low-carbon hydrogen could be up to 40 million tonnes per annum (mtpa) by 2050, according to Wood Mackenzie.
But as with other sectors, green hydrogen needs to achieve a much lower cost to compete in combustion sector than that required to compete with on-purpose hydrogen. The cost of hydrogen is important to refiners, as it accounts for 10-25% of a refinery’s variable operating expenditure.
TotalEnergies’ decisive moves in Europe in recent months contrast with the policy uncertainty surrounding the US, where President Trump has made it clear fossil fuel development will be the priority over clean energy development. The EU aims to produce 10 million tonnes of renewable hydrogen annually by 2030 and import another 10 million tonnes to help decarbonise heavy industry and transport across the bloc.
Nearly all hydrogen consumed in the US today is produced with fossil fuels and used by industry for refining petroleum, producing fertiliser and chemicals, treating metals and processing foods.
There have been high-profile moves to develop hydrogen, through the Hydrogen Hubs, although they made little reference to deploying clean hydrogen at refineries.
“Some actors in the oil and gas complex are deeply opposed to alternative energy sources in the interest of sustaining demand for their own products. Others go so far as to assert that climate change is a myth. These hydrocarbon hardliners will seek to slow the shift to clean hydrogen at refineries,” notes an Atlantic Council paper.
“While clean hydrogen uptake at refineries will likely accelerate due to funding from the infrastructure law as well as from the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), the DOE’s award suggests that the complex political economy of clean hydrogen at refineries may constrain its uptake.”
While Asia is increasingly exploring the use of green hydrogen in various sectors, its current usage in refineries is still relatively limited, with most hydrogen produced using fossil fuels (grey hydrogen) and only a very small percentage coming from renewable sources.
