Port of Amsterdam, Evos, Electriq Global, Hydrogenious, and Hysilabs have joined forces to investigate the technical and commercial feasibility of importing and storing hydrogen on an industrial scale. This initiative is dubbed H2Gate. The parties are jointly working on a blueprint for an import, storage, distribution and trading hub, consisting of facilities with a total throughput capacity of 1 MM t of hydrogen per year.

Good starting position

The five parties expect hydrogen to play a central role in the transition to a sustainable energy system. This transition is necessary if they are to meet the European target of becoming climate-neutral by 2050.

The Amsterdam port area is well positioned to play an important role in this transition. For decades, the port has been a leading international hub for the trade in energy products. There are many initiatives underway in the region to develop a green hydrogen cluster, including production facilities. The H2Gate partners share the vision that alongside local production of hydrogen, imports are needed to meet future demand in Europe.

Building an international supply chain

Moving to overcome the challenges with transporting and storing compressed and cooled hydrogen, the H2Gate project is exploring several hydrogen carrier technologies in parallel, also to determine potential energetic and operational synergies between them. Subsequent studies into design and realization, including pilots, are conceivable.

As such the H2Gate project is an important step towards the realization of an international supply chain for hydrogen on a commercial scale. Depending on the availability of green hydrogen worldwide and the growth of demand in Europe, such supply chains are expected to scale up towards the end of this decade.